'G' is for.....Grapefruit, Orange and Lime Cheesecake

Another delay in my post ....but I had disaster cheesecake on Sunday so I started all over again last night. The first attempt slopped over to one side after a night in the fridge, maybe due to some night time activity with something else in the fridge, you know what I mean, maybe a little fairy having a taste, or maybe the mixture was just too sloppy. Today's cake stuck a little when I tried to release it from te tin but all in all was more presentable! 

 This time I thought I would combine some of my  Mums favorites.....cheesecake, ginger nut biscuits &coconut....she also loved the sharpness of citrus. I am not so sure she would of appreciated the mango coulis though as that would of been in her words "a foreign fruit" and she would of been deeply suspicious of it! Oh and I remember watching her dunk these gingery biscuits into her tea, waiting for her to hold the biscuit in a bit too long and it would fall apart into her tea....ugh
Grapefruit hold some childhood memories of my Mum eating grapefruit all the time as she thought it would be the miracle cure for weight loss. You know she never needed to diet, and unfortunately lost her life at 60 years old to anorexia. Hey mum if you had a slice or 2 of this you  would of put some flesh on your bones! Right here goes with the recipe :)
Butter and lightly butter a 23cm round spring form tin. Oven 170c
Ingredients:
140gr ginger nut biscuits crushed into crumbs
110gr desiccated coconut
100gr unsalted butter melted
Pinch of ground ginger
Combine all of these ingredients until moist and even, then press into the bottom of tin, press down gently
Bake in the oven for 10mins. Leave to cool
Topping
575gr soft cheese
11/2 tins of sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
zest of grapefruit, lime and lemon about 1tbsp
juice of each fruit about 3 tbsp
Mango and caster sugar to taste for coulis

Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Slowly pour the condensed milk into the bowl, mixing only until just blended, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the eggs, one at a time gently blending into mixture

Stir the juice and zest into the mixture. Pour the batter over the biscuit base, smoothing into an even layer.

Bake in the preheated oven 150C until the top of the cheesecake springs back when gently pressed, about 45 minutes. Turn oven heat off, but leave cheesecake inside with oven door slightly ajar until the oven cools completely. Refrigerate until completely chilled.

Decorate with curls of citrus peel, cream and slices of chocolate orange

Make mango coulis by pureeing the mango with sugar until smooth. If too thick, add a teaspoon of water at a time, using just enough to make pourable. Drizzle over cheesecake before serving. Enjoy :)

Mango coulis.

This was the disaster that ended up in the bin!

Have a good week and keep mixing  and smiling :) Love M xxx

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'F' is for.... Fairy Oyster Cakes

Well we are into the 6th week, how time flies! A little late with this recipe but I had a hectic weekend, but as they say better late than never :)

The only traditional cakes I could think of was figs (ugh), fudge and fairy cakes. So I decided on a twist on the traditional English teatime fairy cakes. 
My thoughts turned to childhood once again....lollipops, sherbet fountains and ice cream ....oh how we all loved it when the ice cream man came to our street, what would we chose a a 99' cone, a FAB ice lolly or if we had enough pocket money an oyster ice cream. All us girls thought we were glamorous if we had one...how times change! In case you are wondering, a 99 cone is a cone shaped wafer with soft ice cream and a small flake in the side, Fabs are multi flavoured ice lollies with sprinkles....and oyster ice creams to us were much more sophisticated...an oyster shaped wafer shell, with marshmallow and soft ice cream inside, dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. You could also choose from a selection of sweet sauces....I always had butterscotch :) The pictures I have posted here are probably better than my descriptions...lol Anyway here goes....enjoy the recipe x 

                     

                       

Ingredients: 
6oz each  of flour, caster sugar and butter. 1tsp baking powder, 3 eggs, 1tsp vanilla extract
Using all in one method beat all the ingredients together until light and fluffy

Place teaspoons of mixture onto a greased baking tray. These spread out quite allot during cooking, so bake them in batches of 5 at a time.
Bake until risen and golden 180f
Place on a rack to cool


Dip half the cakes into melted chocolate just to cover about half inch up cake (see picture) leave to set.
Whip double cream until thick and cover one cake making sure one side is thicker than the other.
Add a few small marshmallows one side and a few chopped strawberries the other. 
Place another cake on top to make the oyster shape.
I have decorated the top with a few sugar butterflies on top of the chocolate.

Enjoy mmmmm
See you next week love M xxx

     

‘E’ is for……Eve’s temptation…

 A spiced apple muffin, with a snickers caramel topping decorated with a flake, sweet dried apple and chocolate sugar beans…….yum yum

Just like Eve you will be unable to resist the temptation of apples….and other chocolaty delights!

This combination of ingredients was inspired by my Mum....she was no cook, but could make a mean apple sponge and fantastic gravy...ummmmm that's it really....oh and custard.  Every Sunday she would make an apple sponge served with custard after the obligatory roast....It  became a family favourite and as she cooked enough for the street there was always plenty for friends, including my boyfriend,  now my husband, so maybe there is something in the saying a way to a man's heart is through his stomach....I wonder if he married me so he could continue to have my mums sponge pudding. Oh well 30 odd years on it worked!
Sponge pudding and cakes that use apples are often called Eves Cake or Eves Temptation...hence the name of this delight. I'm sure Eve would of loved the temptation of apple and chocolate!
Anyway my testers have done their job....and the temptation was defiantly delicious...the plate came back with only a few crumbs left on it...so get out your whisks and spoons and bake these muffins :)

Ingredients

3oz melted butter

9oz SR flour

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

4oz castor sugar 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp honey

2 medium eggs

2 tbsp apple sauce

5oz diced eating apples

 milk if needed

Decoration.

3 snickers Bars, small flake bars, small sugar beans, Whitworths sweetened apple

Put 12 muffin cases into a muffin tin, Preheat oven to 190C

Method

Melt butter and leave to cool

Sift the flour, and other dry ingredients into a bowl.

Add all the other ingredients apart from the apples and milk

Beat until light and fluffy, but not too runny, it is ok if its a thickish mixture as the fruit will make it moist

Fold in the apples

divide mixture into muffin cases

Bake for 20-25 mins, or until risen, put onto a wire rack to cool

Decoration

Melt Snickers bars in a bowl until melted, and spoon equally onto the cool muffins.

Push a mini flake bar into side of muffin

Using a little frosting or melted chocolate stick sweet apple and sugar beans on top...see lots of pictures!

You can decorate these using your imagination and your own favourite ingredients too:)

If you ave baked any of  my treats I would love to see your pictures and your own twist on my ideas.

Eat and enjoy:) :)

Hugs 4 smiles Maxine xx

‘D’ is for……….

Delicious Citrus Swirly Cakes

Chocolate orange brownie and lemon cheesecake come together in this yummy chocolaty citrus delight.

In the 70's cheesecake was one of those new trendy desserts that were the in thing to have as a dessert. My mum was an avid fan, but me as a young girl could not think of anything worse, I was unadventurous and stuck with ice cream! 

One of my children's favourite cakes are chocolate brownies, I decided to combine the 2 cakes and a recipe was born. Hope you enjoy these cakes as much as my testers did....they did not last long!

Oven temp 160C, 325F, gas 3

20cm square cake tin, greased and lined

Cheesecake instructions

1 egg, 225 cream cheese of choice, 50gr caster sugar, 1tsp lemon extract

Put all these ingredients into a bowl and beat together until well mixed. Set aside 

Brownie

50gr flour, 115 dark chocolate, 115 butter, 150gr dark brown sugar, 2 beaten eggs, grated zest of 1 orange, 1-2 tsps orange extract

Melt chocolate and butter together

Put all the other ingredients into another bowl and beat well until mixed. Gently fold in chocolate the mixture.

Spread 2 thirds of the brownie mix into pan....then spread the cheesecake mix on top. Take a spoon and place the rest of the brownie mix in heaps over the top of the cheesecake mix. Using a skewer or a cocktail stick swirl the mixtures together.

Bake for 30mins until just set in the centre. remove from oven and leave to cool in the tin.

Remove from tin and cut into squares. I cut 16, although small they are very rich. Decorate with your choice of ingredients. If they last that long! I used orange Belgian thins, A little chocolate frosting and topped off with a slice of mandarin, half a glacé cherry and a chocolate stick.....yummmmmmmy