Doughnuts

After hearing on a couple occasions about the addition of POTATO to a doughnut batter, I thought I’d try it out. These full size doughnuts are soft and squishy, and stay soft and squishy even after cooled.

Ingredients (makes about 14)

3 1/2 cups strong bread flour

3 tsp yeast

1/2 cup potatoes (boiled, peeled and mashed to make up 1/2 cup)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp oil

1 cup warm milk

1 egg (whisked slightly)

Method

1) Pour the warm milk into a jug. Add a pinch of sugar and the yeast. Leave to rest for ten mins

2) In a big mixing bowl, place the flour, salt, sugar, potato and egg. Do not combine at this stage.

3) Add the liquid mix into the flour mix and combine and knead for a few mintues, add the oil and knead again, adding flour if sticky or milk if too tough.  The dough should be soft and manageable.

4) Place dough into a food bag, tie a loose knot and leave to double in size (about half hour)

5) Roll out onto a well floured surface to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out circles (using an approx 9cm cutter) and holes for the center (approx. 2.5cm – I used a toothpick holder lid). Leave on a floured surface (ideally on wax/greaseproof/baking paper to avoid the dough sticking and ease of removal). Re-roll until all the dough is used.

6) Cover with a light cloth and leave to rise again ( 45 mins or so)

7) Deep fry on a low medium heat turning once until golden brown.  Drain any excess oil out on removal.

8) Cool slightly on a wire rack

For the glaze:

2 tsp butter

1 cup icing sugar

3 tbsp milk

water to thin

Method

Melt butter in a pan, add half the icing sugar and the milk and whisk. While on the lowest heat add the rest of the sugar.  Remove from heat and thin down with water until the desired consistency is reached.  I left mine quite thick.

There are many ways to ice a doughnut. The easiest is to drench the hot doughnuts in sugar.

I hope you try this recipe and it works out as well for you as it did for me 🙂

Black and White Wedding Cake

Black and white wedding cake

This simple yet elegant cake consisted of four tiers (14″, 11″, 8″ and 6″) of chocolate and vanilla sponge with vanilla butter cream frosting.

The rough sketch.  I think the cake turned out very close to the original design which is always a good thing.

Sugar paste flower (with inedible crystal stamen cake topper).  Always try and make the cake topper in advance so it can dry. Its a good idea to make two (I didn’t in this case..oops!).  Thankfully, one was enough but I watched it like a hawk.

I used a stencil from designer stencils for the print design on the second tier

A bow made from 25 mm double satin ribbon which I looped over a few times and fanned out. Secured with a few stiches and pinned together by a decorative broach.

The cakes was stacked on site. Finishing touches were 25mm and 38 mm double satin black ribbon and diamonte strips

Blueberry Muffins

These are great anytime of the day.  I’ve been making them for a few years now from an online recipe (l can’t even remember if I’ve adjusted it at all) and they are just mouth watering!

Ingredients and Method

Crumble top:

2 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp butter

Crumble the above and set aside

For the Muffin Batter:

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients:

300g self raising flour

150g caster sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

In a measuring jug mix the wet ingredients:

125ml milk

100ml oil

1 egg

Pour the wet mixture into the dry one and whisk together, taking care not to over mix. If the mixture feels dry, add a tablespoon of milk. However it should be a thick-ish batter so it can hold the weight of the blueberries (so they don’t sink to the bottom) and also to allow for the moisture of the blueberries themselves.

Gently stir in 3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Use an icecream scoop to fill 10 muffin cases

Sprinkle a teaspoon on crumble mix over the top

Bake in a pre heated oven at 160C for 30 mins (check after 20 mins)

Black Forest Cupcakes

These are simple to make and alcohol free

I used this amazing chocolate cupcake recipe from The Brown Eyed Baker:

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/08/19/best-chocolate-cupcakes-recipe/

Its so far the best chocolate cupcake recipe. Its very rich, dense yet very moist.

Or, just use your favourite cupcake recipe

Cut a cone out from the top of each one.

You need about a small teaspoon of jam per cupcake. Heat the jam for a few seconds in the microwave.  Cherry jam would be ideal but since I didn’t have any, I used strawberry and placed half a glace cherry in each one with the jam.

Place the cones back on top and swirl with fresh whipped cream. Decorate with some grated chocolate and a glace cherry.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cupcake with Fresh Blueberry Buttercream Frosting

The colour of the frosting comes from the blueberries so no need to add food colours.

To flavor the butter cream I made a thick concentrated blueberry paste. I personally think a cream cheese frosting may have suited the flavours better. The lemon cupcake was a regular cupcake recipe with the addition of lemon rind and juice.
To make the blueberry paste:
This made three tablespoon of paste with is enough for twelve cupcakes or 2 cups of butter icing
¾ cup fresh blueberries
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
Put these in a pan and set to simmer. Mash and then strain. Put back into the pan.
Next, mix ¾ teaspoon cornflour with 1 tablespoon hot water. Add this to the pan. Boil once and re-strain. Refrigerate. Add to your favourite frosting at the end and mix well.