Honey and Almond Cake with Lemon Buttercream Icing

Honey and Almond Cake with Lemon Buttercream Icing

I wanted to come up with a cake that would be tasty, comforting and satisfying to my sweet tooth alongside a nice, hot cup of tea on a cold and bleak wintery day.

This is it.

Honey and Almond Cake with Lemon Buttercream Icing


Ingredients: 


For the cake:
12oz butter (softened)
12oz light brown sugar
12oz self raising flour
6 eggs
6 oz ground almonds
8 tbsp honey

For the lemon buttercream icing:
6oz butter (softened)
12oz icing sugar
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
8 tbsp milk

Method:

To make the cake:


Preheat oven to 180°/350°/Gas Mark 4.

Grease and line two 10" springform cake tins.

Whisk the eggs in a small bowl.

In a separate, larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and light.  Add the eggs and honey and whisk the ingredients together well.

Sift the flour into the mixture, add the ground almonds and then mix thoroughly making sure it is all combined.

Divide the mixture between the two cake tins and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

Once baked, allow to cool slightly in the tins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Whilst waiting for them to cool you can get on with making the buttercream icing.

To make the lemon buttercream icing:

Mix together the icing sugar with the butter.  Add the zest and juice of 1 lemon.  Keep mixing, adding the milk one tablespoon at a time until you have reached a fairly thick but spreadable consistency.  It shouldn't be so thick that you can't spread it easily.  Set it aside until the cakes are cool enough to put together.

Once the cakes have cooled completely, spread a generous layer of lemon buttercream icing onto your bottom cake, then sandwich the second cake on top.

Spread another generous layer of icing onto the top cake.  To finish, drizzle with a couple of teaspoons of honey.

Make a cup of tea.

Cut a big slice of cake.

Eat and enjoy.


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Banana and Raisin Breakfast Muffins

Banana and Raisin Breakfast Muffins are a great recipe idea for toddlers

Oliver, at two years old, has plenty to be getting on with.  Eating and mealtimes just get in the way of his busy life.  He tends to graze at the moment, preferring to walk about with a bunch of grapes or a handful of cherry tomatoes to chomp on, rather than sitting at the table for any length of time.

He isn't a big eater at breakfast time nor lunch times and though he doesn't look any worse for wear, my mother instinct still feels like I have to fool him into eating something I feel is substantial enough to give him a good start to his day.  I wanted a healthy breakfast recipe.  This is where breakfast muffins come into play.

Breakfast muffins contain the good ingredients that reassure me that my toddler is getting enough nourishment and everything he needs to get his day off to a good start.  Breakfast muffins are also a great option for fussy toddlers and picky eaters.   They are a healthy breakfast recipe for toddlers who, like Oliver, are too busy to sit still and he is happy because he just think's he's eating a cake!

Don't be fooled by their name though because breakfast muffins are certainly not just for breakfast!

Banana and Raisin Breakfast Muffins
(makes 36)

Ingredients:

10oz plain flour
10oz porridge oats
2 tbsp baking powder
8oz light brown soft sugar
4oz raisins
4 bananas
20fl oz milk
8fl oz sunflower oil
4 eggs

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.

Grease muffin tray or line with cases.

Sift plain flour into a large bowl with baking powder.  Add porridge oats and sugar and stir well.

Mash bananas well, then add to dry food mixture along with the raisins.

In a separate bowl whisk together the milk, sunflower oil and eggs.  Pour into the dry food mixture and mix.

Fill the muffin cases almost full with the mixture.  Bake in oven for approximately 20 minutes or until muffins are risen and lightly browned on top.

The muffins can be stored in an airtight container and can be warmed up by heating in the oven for 5 minutes at 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2.


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Slow Cooker Boeuf Bourguignon

Slow Cooker Boeuf Bourguignon

Mike has recently become quite a dab hand in the kitchen.  This was his first attempt at this dish and it was so lovely there was no way of not having a second helping.  This is the ideal dish to warm you up in the winter, especially when teamed up with a helping of Potatoes Boulangeres.

Boeuf Bourguignon
(Serves 8)


Ingredients:


2lbs diced beef
350g celery
4 large carrots
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
150g mushrooms
3tbsp olive oil
Bottle red wine (preferably Burgundy but any red will do)
600ml beef stock
4tbsp cornflour
Salt and pepper to season

Method:

Put olive oil in the bottom of your slow cooker or casserole dish.

Chop onions, garlic, celery, carrots and mushrooms and place in bottom of dish.

Coat the diced beef in flour and put in a pan to brown.  Once browned add to casserole.

Pour in red wine.

Whisk cornflour into beef stock to thicken then add to casserole.

Season then cook on low in the slow cooker or in a lidded casserole dish in the oven for at least seven hours.

Enjoy!


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Crock pot cooking for health, wealth and happiness

Slow cooker picture from Tesco Direct

One of the questions we are often asked about is cooking for our large family. One of our saving graces is our crockpot.

Slow cookers are available in a variety of sizes and styles, can be bought for very little outlay and they cost pennies to run.  I have two large crockpots each being around a 6 litre capacity, but using one is sufficient for our sized family at the moment.  This will probably change as the younger children get older and their appetites grow!

Basic models are available which have two or three cooking levels.  You can also purchase models which have a stay-warm function, allowing your meal to be kept warm for a number of hours after it has finished cooking.  Some slow cookers such as one I received to test, have an oven and freezer proof stoneware dish providing you with even more cooking options.

It isn't just large families who can benefit from crockpots.  I bought Stephanie a small one for herself to enable her to throw a few ingredients into the pot and come home from college or work to a hot, nutritious meal.

I can prepare a meal in minutes, getting everything done in the morning while supervising the children's lessons at the kitchen table and then leaving it to cook throughout the day.  If I am feeling super-organised I do as much preparation the evening before, chopping up any vegetables which the recipe might call for and storing in the fridge overnight for example.

Crockpot recipes aren't limited to stews and casseroles.  You can cook a variety of meals and even desserts using the slow cooker with a minimum of time and effort.  It is also a great help when you are on a budget, enabling you to purchase cheaper, tougher cuts of meat that end up succulent and tender once cooked over several hours in the slow cooker.

As the nights draw in and the weather turns colder, I find my thoughts turning to hot, simple comfort foods. For me, summer time is all about picnics and fruit salads and buffet spreads at the kitchen table allowing you to graze and pick. Winter, on the other hand, is about feeling snug and warm when everything outside is dull and miserable. This is where my crockpots come in.  There is nothing like coming home from a cold, winter's walk to a scrummy vegetable casserole and dumplings all ready to dish up onto the plate.  It's a great alternative to simply reaching for a frozen overpriced, cardboard-like ready-meal which I loathe with a passion.

If I haven't yet convinced you how a crockpot can make you healthier, wealthier and happier, I'll be sharing some slow cooker recipes with you over the coming weeks.  If you have any favourite crockpot recipes of your own you'd like for me to try out and include please do let me know by emailing me at family@largerfamilylife.com.


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Squeezing out the last drops of summer with fruit picking and home made jam

For the preceding days we had been hearing about hurricane storms due to come over to batter Britain at the start of this week. Yes, the end of summer comes with a definite full stop, I thought.

When plans for Sunday afternoon were non-existent yet the sun was shining it seemed a shame to waste it. Goodness knows we'd be cooped up enough indoors over the next few months as it is so despite a weekend filled with Braxton Hicks contractions we decided to take the children fruit picking.

We searched around for local farms. Many of them offered pre-picked fruit for sale in their own little shops and the ones who did allow you to pick your own had finished at the end of August. We did find one place not too far from us which still had several different types of fruit available for picking. So we ate an early lunch and headed off.

We were the only family there that we could see.  We saw nobody else near us until it came to leaving.  This was fun as we could then pretend that we were on our own farm.  Make believe isn't just for the kids, you know!  *Sigh*... maybe one day we'll get that farm we'd love...

Oliver wasted no time at all getting into the swing of things...

... and it wasn't long before he had his own little punnet filled to the brim of strawberries.  The only thing was it took a little trial and error to get the hang of not tipping the punnet over every time he bent down to pick another strawberry, resulting in the lot falling out and needing to be picked up over and over again.  It didn't faze him too much.  For every strawberry that ended up in the punnet, two or three were eaten.

Oliver wasn't the only one guilty of eating the produce...

Some people say that it is no longer necessary for families to have a lot of children.  They say it was acceptable in the olden days because parents needed lots of children in order to work on the farm.  I have to say that it's quite handy even now.  And boy, did we work them hard!  I mean, you only have to look at Caitlin wiping the sweat off her brow to see the sheer amount of child labour these poor little souls had to endure....

... They were all clearly worn to the ground and begging for mercy...

Hey!  That's not enough strawberries yet, kids!  Get back to work!  Now!!!"

Mmm, raspberries too....

... and our final bounty resulted in two boxes like this...

If you can squeeze the last drops of summer out and get yourself a few strawberries before autumn sets in you can make yourself some lovely, home-made jam.  Here is a quick recipe for you:

Strawberry Jam Recipe

Ingredients:

Strawberries - make a note of the weight

Sugar - equal in weight to the strawberries

1 lemon

Method: 

Wash the strawberries and put them in a large pan (preferably stainless steel) with high sides.  Add the sugar and set the hob to medium-low heat.  

Stir sugar and strawberries together well, adding a quartered lemon into the mix.  As the mixture heats mash it up with a potato masher and keep stirring.  

Keep the jam cooking until it reaches setting point.  You can find this by using a jam thermometer which indicates where the setting point is.  If you don't have a jam thermometer put a small plate into the freezer for a few minutes until it is very cold to the touch.  Then take out a small amount of jam and drop it onto the plate.  If it quickly forms a skin and sets firmly onto the plate then it has reached setting point.  If it doesn't, cook it a while longer, put the plate back in the freezer for a few minutes and try again.  

Once your jam has reached setting point, remove the lemons from the mixture and pour the jam into sterilised jars, making sure you fasten the lids on tightly.  

Remember to be careful and to keep children away as it gets extremely hot and would be very painful if an accident occurred. 

Enjoy your home-made jam!

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Baking inspiration for the uninspired (or in my case, the just plain lazy)

As you are probably aware by now, I am in the last trimester of my twin pregnancy.  I'm tired much of the time and finding it harder to do the things that need to be done.

As you might also know, we tend to bake and make a lot of our own goodies.  However, tiredness (or laziness, call it what you will) tends to result in baking taking a back seat on my list of priorities.

We then have a problem in that we still want something nice to eat.  We like to try out cakes, biscuits and goodies in general.  Who doesn't?  So in order to satisfy my sweet tooth I needed to find something quick, easy yet yummy.

I spent far too much time procrastinating on Baking Mad's website, looking at pastry recipes, cakes, biscuits and everything else before finally settling on making their Bitesize Chocolate Brownies.  This recipe took less than the estimated ten minutes to whip up although I did have to quadruple it to make enough for our family.

I am now waiting for my groceries to be delivered so that I can have a go at the Low Calorie Apple Strudel recipe  in order to get through the glut of apples our neighbour had gifted us.  In fact, there is no shortage of recipe ideas that I have seen here that I want to try out.

If you find any recipes (preferably which are short on prep time) that you would recommend do let me know.  The one thing I don't seem to be tiring of is eating.

(This is a sponsored post.)

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Delightfully More-ish Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have tried a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years trying to find that perfect one.  I don't know that I've found it yet but this recipe comes pretty close.  The quantities given below will make you approximately 50 cookies. You can bake them for around 7 minutes for a soft, chewier cookie or leave them in for a minute or two extra for a crisper one.  If you're wanting to convert from ounces to cups just remember that eight ounces equal one cup.

Ingredients:


16oz butter
16oz caster sugar
4tbs golden syrup
32oz plain (all purpose) flour
2 tbsp baking powder
12 oz chocolate chip


Method: 


Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/ Gas Mark 6.

Line baking trays with greaseproof paper and grease lightly.

Mix together the butter, caster sugar and golden syrup until creamy.

Add flour, baking powder and chocolate chips.

Combine mixture until the dough comes together well yet remains slightly crumbly.

Create your cookies by bringing together walnut sized balls of dough.  Set out on baking tray leaving adequate space all around.  They will flatten and spread as they bake.

Bake for between 7-9 minutes depending on whether you like a soft, crumbly cookie or prefer a crunchier texture.

When cookies are baked, remove them carefully from the oven and lay flat onto a table set out with greaseproof paper.  Leave until cool otherwise the cookies will squish together as they are still soft when warm.


Enjoy!

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Fruity Scones

I had been craving scones for a while since seeing Jam and Clotted Cream's Twitter page.  Craving I tell you.

Last week Caitlin offered to make a batch or two one afternoon.

She never did.  

Apparently she decided she "couldn't be bothered in the end".

She is now grounded for a week. (Only kidding!).

(Or am I?)

I did what mums do and sighed and muttered "I'll do it myself then" under my breath and went and baked a batch myself. 


(Actually, it took five days before I could be bothered to actually get on with making them myself, but that didn't sound as dramatic.  I do think that scones with cream and jam might call for a little drama beforehand, in order to truly savour the final product served on a china plate with tea served in a teacup with a saucer in the peace and tranquility of a country garden*).  

Fruity Scones (makes approximately 48)

Ingredients:


200g butter, diced
1kg plain flour
4 tbsp baking powder
1tsp salt
120g sugar
200g dried mixed fruit
600ml milk
Beaten egg diluted with a little water for glazing.

Method:


Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6
Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl.
Add diced butter and rub in with fingertips.
Add sugar and fruit and stir well.
Pour in milk and combine until it all comes together.
Roll out to a thickness of approximately ¾" and cut with a 2½" round cutter.
Place on a greased baking tray and glaze with beaten egg and water mixture.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes until risen and slightly brown.
Cool on a wire rack.
Serve split in the middle with generous servings of whipped cream and jam, or just have it plain. Whatever takes your fancy.

They're really yummy and simple to make if I do say so myself.

Oh, and I am still deciding whether to share with my daughter.

Decisions, decisions...



*Or, in our case, a gaggle of noisy kids and a scrabble of grubby hands pointing out the largest scones of choice in a cluttered kitchen full of equipment and bags of flour.

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