Let us start the baking week pick of the line as we mean to go on… by baking!
THURSDAY- Banana Loaf Cake Recipe
FRIDAY- Ms Cupcake @ Greenwich Market
SATURDAY- Blackberry and Apple bakewell Pudding Recipe
SUNDAY- Kooky Bakes @ Shoreditch High Street
MONDAY- Apple-Bobbing Recipe
TUESDAY- The Hummingbird Bakery @ Shoreditch High Street
WEDNESDAY- Iced Halloween Shaped Biscuits Recipe
Banana Loaf Cake. Pic: Emily Fordham
THURSDAY
This recipe for banana loaf cake is delightfully simple and gives you the chance to use up those mushy bananas that you’ve been ignoring in the fruit bowl! The smell it fills your kitchen with as it bakes is beyond incredible and a slice of the finished product goes perfectly with a warming cup of tea. Yum!
Ingredients:
2 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
170g caster sugar
170g self-raising flour
170g soft margarine (e.g. stork)
3 eggs
Instructions:
Preheat oven to Gas Mark 3/160C/140C Fan
Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whizz together with a hand mixer/blender or with brute force and a wooden spoon.
Pour into a well greased 2lb loaf tin.
Bake in pre-heated oven for 1 hour.
Decorate with icing sugar if you wish, either a light dusting or mix some with water to make a glacé icing.
FRIDAY
Ms. Cupcake. Pic: Emily Fordham
Ms Cupcake is a bit of a legend. Creating cakes without any dairy products that still taste like absolute perfection is no easy feat yet that is exactly what Ms Cupcake is all about. She’s vegan and proud of it. Find her stall at Greenwich market today and revel in the insanely amazing flavours and beautifully swirled icing. Who needs dairy?
Greenwich Market, SE10 9HZ
Nearest ELL station: New Cross
10am-5pm
SATURDAY
Blackberry and Apple Bakewell Pudding. Pic: Emily Fordham
It’s a Saturday, it’s Autumn, it’s cold. How about inviting some friends round for dinner and warming everyone up with a lovely autumnal pudding. This blackberry and apple bakewell pudding is perfect served warm with vanilla ice-cream or custard. Pick up the fresh fruit (apples and blackberries) needed for the recipe from the brand new Brockley Market and make your pudding a locally sourced one too!
Ingredients:
6 Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and cut into chunks
2 tbsp demerara sugar
400g blackberries
150g softened butter
150g golden caster sugar
3 eggs + 1 extra yolk, beaten
150g ground almonds
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
100g self-raising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Handful flaked almonds
Instructions:
Heat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/160C Fan
Put the apples and demerara sugar in a pan. Heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves and the apples have softened. Stir in blackberries and then tip into an ovenproof (approx. 20cmx30cm) and leave to cool.
Beat the butter and sugar together and then gradually beat in the eggs. Mix in ground almonds and almond extract. Sift the self-raising flour and baking powder and fold everything in.
Spoon the almond sponge mix over the cook fruit and level out. Sprinkle with flaked almonds and then bake for 40-45 minutes until golden, risen and cooked through.
Dust with icing sugar to finish if desired.
Brockley Market
Lewisham College Car Park, Lewisham Way, Brockley, London SE4Nearest ELL Station: Brockley
10am-2pm
SUNDAY
Kooky Bakes treats! Pic: Facebook
So you say you’ve eaten brownies, cookies and cakes before… but you’ve never tried brownies, cookies and cakes like those of Kooky Bakes. Their cupcakes are 4D creations which have been literally injected with flavour, their truffle brownies are award winning and their breakfast and club tropicana flavoured cookies are something rather special Visit their website to find out more or take the plunge and head to the Sunday UpMarket for the proper ‘kooky’ experience.
The Sunday UpMarket
The Old Truman Brewery
Off Brick Lane
E1 6QL
Nearest ELL station: Shoreditch High Street
11am-5:30pm
MONDAY
Apple Tart. Pic: Emily Fordham
For a better way to use your apples than halloween apple-bobbing (although maybe not quite as fun) try making this glazed apple tart. It’s relatively simple but the result is quite stunning and it’s totally scrummy served with double cream. Baking week was clearly not invented to help us lose weight that’s for sure!
Ingredients:
250g puff pastry (e.g. Jus-Rol)
4-6 Cox apples peeled, quartered and cored
4 tbsp of apricot jam
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions:
Roll out pastry very thinly- about 2mm- then using a plate of about 23cm as a template cut out a circle of pastry.
Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, prick all over with a fork and chill for 30 minutes.
Heat the apricot jam in a saucepan until very runny and then add vanilla extract. Sieve and leave for later.
Heat oven to Gas Mark 6/200C/180C Fan.
Cut the apples into very thin slices and lay over pastry in concentric circles as close as you can to the edge.
Bake for around 30-40 minutes until the apples are tender and the pastry is crisp.
Leave until just warm and then brush with the vanilla apricot jam to glaze.
TUESDAY
Hummingbird cupcakes! Pic: Benjamin C. M. Backhouse
The Hummingbird Bakery opened on Portobello Road in 2004 and, to the delight of it’s many dedicated fans, has continued to expand its empire of deliciousness since then. The newest store in Spitalfields brings it’s delightful offerings to the people of East London and is certainly not to be missed. It’s carnival season currently for The Hummingbird with a special range of mouthwatering cupcake flavours, such as candy floss, toffee apple and jam doughnut, inspired by the fun of the fair. Grab a popcorn flavoured (yes… we want to try one too!!) cupcake today.
Cupcakes: £2.95
11 Frying Pan Alley, Spitalfields, London E1 7HS
Nearest ELL station: Shoreditch High Street
11am-6pm
WEDNESDAY
Spooky cookies! Pic: Hideya Hamano - Flickr
Instead of offering trick or treaters sweets this Halloween how about some iced halloween shaped biscuits to make them scream with delight? Lakeland do a great halloween cookie cutter set and this site has some great ones too. This recipe is great because it involves you getting your hands stuck in and would be perfect for kids to help with. Have hours of fun decorating your cookies with glacé icing and sprinkles too!
Ingredients:
8 oz self-raising flour
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz margarine
1 egg beaten
Instructions:
Heat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200C/180C Fan.
Mix flour and sugar together.
Add the margarine and with your fingers rub in until like bread crumbs.
Gradually add the egg bit by bit mixing with your hands until you get a dough (you may not need all the egg).
Lightly dust work surface with flour and roll out the dough until just thicker than a £1 coin. Cut out shapes using cutters and continue rolling and cutting until all dough is used.
Bake on trays lined with baking parchment until golden (roughly 8-12 minutes, although watch them carefully as they can burn).
Happy Baking Week!
