Posts Tagged "manchester"

How to make Wholemeal Honey Rolls using your breadmachine

27th August 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
baker, blog, bread machine, dough, homemade, Manchester, recipe, Urmston, , , , , , , , , ,
Sometimes, there is just nothing nicer than eating fresh, still warm, home baked bread rolls, and these ones in particular are fabulous. And if you have a breadmachine, all the hard work is done for you 🙂
What you need:
310ml water
30g chopped butter
1 tsp salt
3 tbsps honey
600g wholemeal flour
2 tsp dried yeast
What you need to do:
1. Add the ingredients in the order recommended for your machine (with mine, it’s the wet ones first, then the dry on top).
2. Use the dough setting and set the machine going to work it’s magic.
3. Once the dough is ready, divide it into 16 equal pieces. Lightly knead each one and shape into rounds.
4. Place onto a lightly greased tray and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
***If you would like extra fluffy bread, you can cover the rolls after placing them on the tray in cling film or plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place for about an hour, and they will double in size. Baking time is the same. But if you are impatient like me and my family, you can bake them as soon as the dough is made, and they are still super yummy.***

 

[...]

Recipe for how to make Coconut and Cranberry Slices

6th August 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
1 comment
blog, cake, easy, homemade, Manchester, maries's bakehouse, recipe, Urmston, , , , , , , , ,
.
These are truly yummy, and VERY easy to make.
 
This recipe uses a very easy, foolproof method of baking. And it’s really easy to follow. And you don’t need to remember any measurements, because you weigh your eggs, and then use the same amount of butter (or baking margarine), sugar, and self raising flour.
 
For a 8″ x 8″ tray, I used 6 eggs, which is about 360g give or take, depending on the size and weight of your eggs. It doesn’t matter if yours are over or under that weight, as long as you weigh the same amount of sugar, butter/baking margarine, and self raising flour it will still work.
 
So, for this recipe I used:
360g baking margarine
360g caster sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoons of coconut flavouring
360g self raising flour
60 g dried cranberries
a sprinkling of sweetened coconut.
 
And before I go any further, let me introduce you to the flavouring. I know this is the second time I’ve recommended a product from Sweet Success, but I’m not on commission honestly!! I added some flavourings to one of my orders to give them a whirl and so far I’m impressed. So here they are:

I used the raspberry one in a milk chocolate fudge for Father’s Day which went down very well, and the coconut one was used in this recipe. It just gives the flavours you are using an extra ‘pop’.
So, back to the recipe.
1. Beat together the baking margarine and the sugar.
2. Add the eggs one at a time and beat into the mixture.
3. Add 2 teaspoons of coconut flavouring and beat.
4. Sieve in the flour and beat into the mixture again. At this stage if the mixture is not dropping consistency (it doesn’t ‘drop’ easily off the spoon) add a splash of milk and beat that in until fully combined.
5. Add 60g cranberries and fold into the mixture.
6. Pour it into the prepared 8″ x 8″ tin. For this recipe I used my silicone one, which doesn’t need lining, but if you are using a tin, I’d line it with greaseproof paper before you add the mixture.
7. Bake at 160 degrees for 20 minutes, then take out of the oven and quickly sprinkle the coconut over the top and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. Keep your eye on it, it might only need 5 minutes.
8. Let it cool in the tin for about 15 minutes, and then take out to cool fully on a wire rack.
9. Enjoy with a cup of tea!
If you do have a go at baking this, do let me know how you get on 🙂

www.mariesbakehouse.co.uk
www.facebook.com/MariesBakehouse

 

[...]

Recipe for how to make sticky toffee pudding

31st July 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
blog, cake, dessert, homemade, Manchester, maries's bakehouse, recipe, Urmston, , , , , , , , , ,
Ingredients you will need for the recipe
For the toffee pudding:
200g dried dates, stoned and chopped.
250ml black tea (not too strong)
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
85g unsalted butter, softened
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
175g golden caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
For the toffee sauce:
100g light muscovado sugar
100g unsalted butter
142ml carton double cream
What to do:
1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C Put the dates and tea in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook for 3–4 minutes to soften the dates. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda.
2. Beat the butter and caster sugar together until pale and creamy, then beat in the egg, flour and mixed spice. Fold in the date mixture and pour into a buttered ovenproof dish or brownie tin. Bake for 30–35 minutes or until the top is just firm to touch.
3. Meanwhile, make the sauce by putting the sugar, butter and cream in a pan over a low heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Cook until the sauce is a toffee colour. Cut the pudding into squares and serve with the warm sauce.
If you try the recipe, let me know how you got on!
[...]

Tutorial for how to create a simple leaf effect on sugarpaste trees

25th July 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
blog, cake, decorating, Manchester, maries's bakehouse, tutorial, Urmston, , , , , , , , , , , ,
A quick ‘how to decorate today’ rather than a recipe to share 🙂
I’ve used this technique on a few cakes, most recently on the sides of this Fireman Sam cake.
It’s super simple, and quick to do, but adds a bit of texture and interest to your cake.
What to do:
1. Colour some sugarpaste green. It can be marbled, you don’t need to colour it completely.
2. Roll out the paste to make it thinner, and pull off the desired size.
3. Tidy up the edges, and make into a ‘cloud’ shape.
4. Use a daisy cutter, or similar flower and press randomly into the paste (without cutting all the way through), over and over again to create a texture which gives the impression of lots of leaves.
5. Stick it on the top of your ‘trunk’, which can be made using a lump of brown sugarpaste, flattened slightly and score lines into it with a knife.
6. Add as many as you need to create the desired effect.

 

[...]

How to make edible tortilla dessert bowls

9th July 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
blog, dessert, easy, edible, Manchester, maries's bakehouse, pudding, Urmston, , , , , , , , ,

These are the simplest thing to make, super yummy , and give you a different way of presenting a dessert. You can make them savoury by omitting the sugar.
You need about a tablespoon of butter, and a couple of teaspoons of sugar per tortilla. These are rough measurements, I didn’t measure exactly when I has making them, the method was a little rough and ready if I’m being honest.
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Melt the butter in the microwave. Brush both sides of the tortilla with the melted butter, then sprinkle the sugar over the top. I used granulated sugar for some (for the children) and cinnamon sugar for the adults. If your tortillas are not very soft it may be an idea to soften them slightly in the microwave first as you need them to bend without ripping.
Then shape the tortilla inside an oven proof bowl, or over the back of a ramekin, or other suitable bowl. Bake for about 8 minutes, but keep an eye on them as you don’t want them to burn. Take them out of the oven and let them cool as they are for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Then they are ready to use.

 

The kids had their bowls filled with mint choc chip ice cream…..

And we had our cinnamon sugar ones with strawberries and cream. Yum 🙂
www.mariesbakehouse.co.uk
www.facebook.com/MariesBakehouse

[...]

How to make chocolate brownie cookies

2nd July 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
1 comment
biscuits, blog, cake, chocolate, cookies, easy, Manchester, maries's bakehouse, Urmston, , , , , , , , , , ,

These little beauties are gorgeous!! They’ve come about because one of the lovely ladies who attends my classes is dairy free. I like to bake for the students at my classes, so was looking for a dairy free recipe. I found a recipe I liked, but tweaked it a bit and now I’m going to share it with you! Be prepared- the dough needs to chill for AT LEAST 4 hours, overnight is even better. So if you want to make these cookies you have to be patient!

Ingredients (makes 32-36 cookies)
85g cocoa powder
400g caster sugar
125ml vegetable oil
4 eggs         
250g plain flour            
2 teaspoons baking powder            
a pinch of salt
60g icing sugar
What to do:
1. In a bowl, mix together the cocoa, caster sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until fully combined. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4. Line baking trays with parchment. Roll dough into 2.5cm balls. Coat each ball in icing sugar before placing onto prepared trays. (Easiest way to do this is put the icing sugar in a bowl and roll the dough around inside it). I used 3 baking trays with 12 per tray. I won’t lie to you- this is a sticky job. You might have to wash your hands a few times whilst doing this step. But ‘stick’ with it, they’re worth it.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Let stand on the baking tray for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.
4. Enjoy!!
At the time of writing I still have some from the first batch we made (we have made another batch since that went into school for the teachers!) and four days on they are still very yummy. 
Let me know if you make them and what you think.
[...]

How to make Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies

18th June 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
biscuits, blog, cookies, easy, Manchester, maries's bakehouse, Urmston, , , , , , ,

Ok, so the jury is still out on these. I have to be honest with you, I can’t make my mind up whether I like them or not. The reason I chose to make them was to do with my quest to find yummy tasting treats that don’t pile on the pounds. And this recipe boasted that these are under 50 calories each. Worth a try I thought. So I made them, and took them along to a class I was running, and my family and friends have tried them too. And I think it’s fair to say we’re split 50/50 into those that like them and those that don’t. So you might just have to try them for yourself!  The original recipe I found was here.

Ingredients you will need:
3 ripe bananas mashes
20g oats
100g peanut butter (I used lower fat)
30g cocoa powder
100g unsweetened apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
What you need to do:
1. Put all the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix them together until fully combined, then let it stand for 20 minutes.
3. Drop heaped teaspoons of the mixture onto ungreased baking paper on cookie trays.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 170 degrees.

And this is what they’ll look like when they’re baked. Excuse the watery picture, it was very sunny in my kitchen when I took this picture!
And there you have it. Easy peasy to make, I’ll leave the taste testing up to you and you can tell me what you think.

[...]

How to make goats cheese, strawberry and honey crostini

11th June 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
baker, blog, cheshire, easy, edible, marie's bakehouse, recipe, Urmston, , , , , , , , , ,
After spending a week on a French Cake Break with Rhu Strand from Pimp my Cake with Mama Rhu, and being treated to the most amazing cooking, I took inspiration from one of the local delicacies that we were treated to and added a bit of a twist. The results, I can assured you, are amazeballs!
Ingredients you will need:
(this is what I used, you might choose slightly different quantities)
1 part baked French baguette
1 block of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, Kidderton Ash Goats’ Cheese, thinly sliced
About 7/8 strawberries, depending on their size, thinly sliced
A drizzle of Sainsbury’s runny honey
About 5 fresh basil leaves, torn
What to do:
1. Slice the baguette into around 15 slices.
2. Place them on a baking tray and bake at 180 degrees for 5 minutes.
3. Transfer to a grill, and place a thin slice of goats cheese on the toasted bread, followed by one or two slices of strawberries.
4. Place under the grill for a few minutes until the cheese starts to melt.
5. Transfer to a serving dish and while still warm, drizzle honey over the crostini.
6. Sprinkle the torn basil leaves over the top, and serve.
An easy peasy, whipped up in under ten minutes treat 🙂

 

[...]

How to make yummy bread rolls, using a bread machine

6th June 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
blog, bread machine, cheshire, Manchester, marie's bakehouse, recipe, Urmston, , , , , ,

I love fresh bread, there’s little that can beat the taste and texture of it fresh from the oven. But sometimes I just don’t have time, or I’m just not organised enough, to make it all by hand. So this is where my bread machine comes into it’s own. Hands up who has a bread machine? And hands up who hasn’t used it in ages? That’s about to change…..

Ingredients you will need:
310ml water
30g butter, chopped
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp. sugar
600g white bread flour
1 egg
2 tsp dried yeast
You’ll need to add the ingredients according to the instructions for your machine, but for mine it’s this order- water, butter, salt and sugar, then flour, egg and yeast. 
Put it on the dough setting and let the bread machine work it’s magic. The dough cycle on my machine takes 1 hour and 20 minutes.
As soon as it’s finished, you can tip the dough out and break it into 12 pieces, and roll each one into a ball. Put them onto two greased baking trays and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 200 degrees, or until cooked and golden brown.
Then remove the bread rolls and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Or, leave to cool as long as is needed to enable you to hold them without burning your fingers, break apart, spread with butter and enjoy!!

[...]

Cake International Manchester 2013 – my experience of entering the competition!

19th March 2013
by M-admin-bakehouse
1 comment
blog, cake, cake maker, cheshire, decorating, Manchester, marie's bakehouse, Urmston, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Have you been to Cake International? It’s been running for many years, but I’ve been to the Birmingham one for the last three years.  The first one, I drove there from Manchester with my mum, spent a fortune on goodies and came home full of ideas, and totally in awe of anyone who entered the competition, thinking it wasn’t anything that I’d ever do myself.

The second and third years I went with cake friends and stayed over near the NEC. It was a really social experience, spending time in person with ‘real live’ cake friends, not just chatting to them over the internet! Each year different friends entered the competition and, with them, I lived through their anguish beforehand whilst making their competition piece, their nerves when waiting for the judges to announce who had been awarded what grades, and their joy and sometimes disappointments at how they had been scored.

But I hadn’t ever entered the competition myself. Well, I lived in Manchester, and the cake had to be delivered to Birmingham before 8.45am on a Friday morning, and I had work, or had to take the children to school, so I couldn’t possibly get it there, could I?
Good enough excuse I thought.

Then Cake International moved to Manchester. And not just Manchester- to Event City, which is less than ten minutes away from where I live in Urmston. So the ‘I can’t get it there’ excuse was no longer relevant. Hmmmmmmmm.

So, when the time came to think about buying my tickets for CI, it was crunch time.  Was I going to buy a three day pass? Or enter the competition and have a three day pass because of it? So I entered the competition. I read through the rules of each class and decided on Class B: Celebration cake with all edible decoration.

I decided to stick with something I knew I could do. Some people enter CI to really challenge themselves, and hats off to them for doing it. There are some absolutely fantastic pieces there, such as this amazing piece from Rhu at Pimp My Cake By Mama Rhu. But I thought I’d make a cake which I’d make for a customer, and just have fun making a cake I enjoyed. Which is exactly what I did.

I like making cakes with lots of detail. Cakes which make you look a little bit closer. Cakes which have decoration at the back as well as at the front. So I kind of went to town with it on this cake.  I didn’t stress, I didn’t worry, I just enjoyed making a cake that I wanted to make.  So far so good I thought.

On the morning of delivery I was still fairly relaxed about the whole thing. Until the point of putting it on the table. Then I started to feel nervous. Lots of people would be looking at my cake over the next three days. The judges would be scrutinising it in a matter of hours. People might wander past it and criticise it. I might be there and hear them! Suddenly I wasn’t quite so calm! But I felt confident enough in my cake to think I might be awarded a merit, and if I was lucky enough to get a bronze, then I’d be thrilled.

After taking the children to school, and going home to bake for a order, I returned to CI at about 11am. As soon as I arrived I went to the competition area and saw a judge with my cake! Suddenly I felt very sick.  Suddenly it really mattered to me what this person thought of my cake, and I needed to know as soon as possible. 

Then I, and other cake friends, waited for the results to be announced. And waited and waited and waited. Three o’clock came round and I had to leave to collect my children from school. On returning home I was glued to my laptop, waiting for Rhu to let me know what the results were. Then Rhu posted a picture for me.

Stunned. Totally stunned. In fact I think my first response was ‘Noooooooooooooooooooo!’ But completely and utterly pleased and proud. Thrilled that one of my cakes, one I’d make in the same way for a customer, achieved a gold at Cake International!
Quick jump to Sunday afternoon, and the award ceremony, and not only did I manage to meet John Whaite (winner of GBBO) who presented my certificate, I was also awarded best in my class. Here’s me with a daft grin, and trying not to cry!
Happy caker 🙂
And just because I have one, here’s a picture of Mary Berry with my cake. Well, almost with my cake. I’d like to think she was at least looking at it!
Would I enter CI again? Yes I think I would. I might even step out of my comfort zone and enter a class I’m not so confident in. I have a few ideas forming…….
So that’s it, my journey to Cake International Manchester.
Any ideas how many eggs the Easter Bunny hid in the garden?? ;0)
[...]
0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop