Now when it comes to cakes and desserts, I am proud to say that cupcakes are my forte, I have been making them way before they became cool, back in the day when they were known merely as fairy cakes or buns and a little drizzle of icing would cut it as decoration. However, in the fast paced foodie world in which I roll, it was really only a matter of time before the cupcake title, as one of the most talked about bakery items, was to be challenged.
Let me introduce you to the whoopie pie; Not exactly a new idea, much like the beloved cupcake, whoopie pies have been around for years. Originally a native dessert of Maine, New England, the pies were baked by the wives of farmers, for a lunchtime treat, where upon finding one in their lunch box, the farmers are said to have cried out "Whoopie!", so hence their name. The pies are like mini chocolate cake sandwiches which ooze a delicious, creamy, frosting filling, and if foodies in the know are to be believed, these babies are going to be the next big thing!
Whoopie Pies I was sent this recipe by a reader of my blog, who's mother in law, Mrs Linda Daunt has lived all her life in Maine, New England and is a fantastic cook. She bakes these pies for special occasions, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays, weddings, funerals and occasionally by special request when one of her daughters feels nostalgic for their childhood. Mrs. Daunt's special touch is to add buttermilk instead of regular milk, to give the pies a richer taste.
Makes 16 whoopie pies 120g butter 190g sugar 2 eggs 270g of flour 5 tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder 1 teaspoon of baking powder 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 250ml of buttermilk
Filling: 250g icing sugar 170g butter 2 egg whites 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract A pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4 and line two baking sheets. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, using an electric whisk, cream the sugar and the butter until pale and fluffy. Add in the egg, mixing again to combine. Slowly add the buttermilk and vanilla extract and dry ingredients to the bowl, in batches, mixing until everything is combined and you are left with a thick batter. Spoon rounded teaspoons of the batter onto lined baking sheets, allowing space for them to spread while cooking. Place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until the tops have puffed up and spring back when lightly pressed. While the mini pies halves are baking, prepare the filling by beating together all the ingredients until you are left with a nice smooth mix. When they are cooked, remove the mini pie halves from the baking sheets with a metal spatula and place on wire rack to cool. When the mini pies halves have cooled, spread a rounded teaspoon of the creamy filling on the flat side and sandwich together with another. Et voila, whoopie pies!
As a nice way to finish off the Leila Lindholm week here on the blog, Lorraine from New Holland publishing organised a phone interview with the lady herself! I was very excited on Thursday morning to be able to call the lovely Leila, to have a quick chat about baking, the muffin mafia and of course her next book! Enjoy!
So you grew up in a family with a mix of cultures, tell me a little about the kind of food you had growing up, did you find you learned a lot about Morroccan cooking when you were growing up? I grew up with my mother and I only met my father when I was 24 so I didn't really grow up in a Morroccan culture at all, but my dad is from Morrocco.
From most of Swedes I talk to, they don't exactly rave about Swedish cuisine, but what you consider the most typical Swedish dish? It's pretty much like Swedish meatballs and we have a special kind of sausage called Falun sauasage that we eat and I think quite a lot of international food aswell as I remember we went to restauarants at least once a week to have dinner when I grew up.
I read you studied cooking, was that in Sweden? I studied a restaurant course in Stockholm and I started when I was 16 and finished when I was 19. When you finish the course you work in restaurants straight away.
I was very excited to read in your book about the muffin mafia, a baking group you started with your grandmother when you were younger, can you tell me a little about the members? It was great, it was actually something me and my grandma's neighbour made up, because I used to run over to her house and she taught me how to bake and we baked like cakes and cupcakes and muffins. Then she decided that we could become pen pals and send recipes to each other and it was me and Aunt Elsa, then her friends up in the north of Sweden, they were a bunch of old ladies in their 60's and we would send recipes to each other. But I was the boss, the mafia boss!
What were some of the first dishes you learned to cook? I think probably something simple like sausage and macoroni, or actually it was like grilled sandwiches! I used to with my best friend go to her place after to school and make all kinds of grilled sandwhiches with pineapple, really tacky sandwiches, with ketchup and pineapple and stuff on them and a lot of cheese!
You have an extremely successful career in Sweden, what would you consider your big break? Well actually I had two kind of big breaks, the first when I was 24, I was chosen Female Swedish Chef Of The Year and that was a big break because I started getting into the media and got attention from the media. I started doing interviews in the press and that was back in 1999. Then the second big break came in 2004 when I was chosen TV chef of the year and then also it was a milestone in a sense as it was my big break in the tv business, and I started getting more possibilities with my cooking shows. I started on one of the biggest morning shows here in Sweden and when I won the award I got asked to do my own cooking series and then after this it's been quite a successful story!
Well I can definitely see that! So who do you find you get the biggest reaction from your books, what kind of people? It's definitely women, but also mothers and kids, they love the baking show. I have heard from so many parents that their kids are watching the baking show on DVD's, they don't want to watch Disney movies, they just want to watch my baking show which is a little funny!
What are some of your favourite dishes to cook apart from baking? I love to do barbeques, so that's what I am really looking forward to this summer, we have a lot of snow right now, but I can't wait to start doing barbeques, that's what I really love! Doing meat like sirloin steak, lamb legs, whole salmon, I can't wait!
In every picture I have seen of you, you always look incredibly happy, are there any dishes that really frustrate you to make? I like to cook everything but sometimes there are dishes which are challenging when, of course, even for me, sometimes things don't work or like the Bearnaise sauce doesn't turn out, thats annoying. Also it's quite common, I'm sure you are familiar with this, when you have plan in your mind and it just doesn't work out when you cook it!
From what I have read you have a big interest in styling as well as cooking, how did that get started? Well I think for me I have always been interested in aesthetic stuff, interior designs, and beautiful things so I collect beautiful things and it came from there. I love to create beautiful things and it's a huge passion I have a craving, I have to do it!
When I was in Sweden I picked up your fantastic magazine Leila's Country Living but I heard it has stopped, will you be working on new issues of it in the future? Maybe in the future but right now I decided not to because I have just had a baby, and I decided to try two issues first in 2009, to make sure it went well because I have no experience in the magazine world. Then I realised that it is so hard to juggle the tv shows, and the book and the magazine.
I was in a book shop in Dublin yesterday and spotted your book "A Piece of Cake", I didn't realise it had been released here aswell as the UK, are you hoping to come over here and break this market? That would be fantastic to work more abroad, but this is my first cookbook to be released outside Sweden, it has been released in The Netherlands, USA, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and in Italy so it's quite exciting to see where it's going to take my work. It's been nine months since I had my baby so I am starting to get back into work mode and we are starting to record season 3 of my baking show in about two weeks. I was also asked by the Discovery channel to do a couple of shows but that was when I just had by baby and it was a food travel show and it wasn't possible to travel.
I'm guessing since the success of your books and tv shows in Sweden, and even with a new baby life has become a lot busier, how has your cooking habits changed? They haven't really, I kind of cook the same stuff I cook in my shows!
Have you had any major on-air or off-air disasters when cooking on tv? No but sometimes in the studio its very hot so in like the spring time sometimes when you work with cake and chocolate and ice cream they melt, so that can be a bit of a disaster!
I am a huge fan of cookbooks, have you got a big collection of books yourself, is there any you just couldn't live without? No I'm greedy I have to have them all! I have about over 100 books, but my favourites are from Martha Stewart and of course Jamie Oliver, his books are very fresh and beautiful!
You worked with Jamie's photographer, David Loftus on one of your books, what was he like to work with? He was fun, he is a fantastic photographer, and it was great, we had done a couple of jobs for Delicious magazine in the UK, and some Swedish magazines also.
Do you have some favourite cookbooks from Swedish food writers? There is a food writer called Anna Bergenstrom, she makes beautiful food, she is like the Swedish Julia Child, a legend!
What do you think the success of a good cook book relies on? Good recipes, and recipies that work, and also that they are easy and they work for normal people. Of course the photography and styling is very important but also when you work with the text to make all the corrections in a book is so important so they are well worked through and very exact, so you are guaranteed the recipe is good.
What are your plans for you next book, will you stick with baking or will you concentrate on any other specific aspects of food? It's actually going to be a follow up to "A Piece of Cake" and I made it with the intention of making two books and I wanted to do one book with sweet stuff and another with more savoury stuff, and it's called "One More Slice" and I bake pizza, pasta, and a lot of sour dough bread recipes, and also there is sweets too. There is a chapter called Cheesecake and another called brownies and blondies, and Ice cream too! So it's all the good stuff that didn't make it in the first book! I had so much material that I wanted to do two books!
After all this unhealthy food, do you ever really feel like a good healthy salad? Absolutely I have to eat quite healthy to make sure I don't kill myself and keep in shape! But sometimes it's nice, there is always room for birthday cakes, and there is always celebrations where you are supposed to bake, it's just tradition. Also bread is a matter of when you eat it, if you have it at breakfast it is not as dangerous as eating it in the evening time!
What do you think of food blogging, would you ever consider doing it yourself? Yes, it's most definitely in my future, but in my case I have been so busy with other stuff. I had a blog for 2 years and even though I wasn't active like the way you are, I wrote something at least once a week. But it is quite demanding if you want to write a good blog with a lot of content so it's hard work and for me write now it's difficult to find the time. But the food blogs are great and it's really fun to read them. So for me it's just a matter of time right now!
Ok one last question, and I'm sure you have been asked this question a million times, but what would be your death row meal? It's a little bit of a depressing question and I would say sweets, but I am very into shellfish and seafood and oysters and a glass Chablis wine!
Leila's book "A Piece Of Cake" is in Irish and UK bookshops now or you can order online here. www.leila.se
I very excited to tell you I am in London!!! For the next two weeks we are shooting the photos of the recipes for my new book which is going to out in March 2011. To say I am excited is probably a total understatement because for me this is the most interesting part of producing a cook book. The first time around for Good Mood Food I was a totally unorganised mess, when it came to planning the photography, I was coaxed along the way by my lovely Aunt Erica who did the majority of food styling, but this time around it's all rolled nicely into two weeks. It also helps that this time I have a far better idea of what I'm doing! My kit has been upgraded and I have a set work pattern which hopefully by this time two weeks will have held up long enough to have provided me with all the photos required! I'll try and stick up a few posts about the whole process if I can- for now enjoy these very cute whoopie pies which look very pretty indeed! :)
Go Nuts Nutella Whoopie Pies! By dropping the cocoa powder from the original whoopie recipe and substituting flour you get left with really beautiful plain whoopie discs. As a filling I use a combination of nutella and smooth peanut butter but you could also use the chocolate frosting from the cupcake recipe.
Makes 16 whoopie pies 120g/4oz butter 190g/6 ½ oz caster sugar 2 eggs, lightly beaten 345g/12oz of plain flour 5g/1 tsp of baking powder 5ml/1 tsp of vanilla extract 250ml/8 ½ fl oz of buttermilk
For the filling: 80g of smooth peanut butter 80g of nutella
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350oF/Gas Mark 4 and line two baking sheets. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, using an electric whisk, cream the sugar and the butter until pale and fluffy. Add in the eggs gradually, mixing well to combine. Add the vanilla extract to the buttermilk and, alternating with the dry ingredients, add to the bowl, mixing until everything is combined and you are left with a thick batter. Spoon rounded teaspoons of the batter onto lined baking sheets, allowing space for them to spread while cooking. Place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until the tops have puffed up and spring back when lightly pressed. When they are cooked, remove the mini pie halves from the baking sheets with a metal spatula and place on wire rack to cool. Once cooled, spread a teaspoon of the nutella on the flat side of 16 of the pie halves. Spread a teaspoon of peanut butter on the remaining 16 pie halves and sandwich together with the nutella pies. These little pies are heavy going so make sure to serve with a glass of cold milk.
I always had a sweet tooth growing up and it hasn't helped that I now am a bit of a demon in the kitchen when it comes to baking sweet things. My theory is that if you're going to go to the bother of baking, you might as well make a big batch of whatever you're cooking up. Now whether you share your baking creations or scoff them in a corner rocking by yourself, well that's entirely up to you! I try and balance all my baking and sweet stuff out with lots of healthy food too, so in mind it all balances out just perfectly. While I do very much enjoy spending time beating sugar into butter, whisking eggs into stiff foamy peaks, and icing cupcakes, sometimes, yes sometimes folks, it all comes down to little more than rice crispy buns. To be honest, I'm not ashamed to say it, there is an incredible sense of satisfaction to melting chocolate and then pouring it over crisped grains of rice, placing in paper cases, popping them in the fridge, licking the spoon (and the bowl if you maneuver yourself correctly!), and gorging on the buns when they are set! I decided recently to go one better and take the simplicity of rice crispy buns and combining them with the American sweetness of rocky road cookies, and "hey presto!", my very delicious Crunchie Rocky Road Buns!
Crunchie Rocky Road Buns Okay, so you've gotten past Rice Krispie buns; well, these Rocky Road Buns are the next step up in deliciousness. Packed with lots of goodies, these little babies will give you that quick hit of sugar you crave. They're easily thrown together in a matter of minutes with ingredients that can be found in the store cupboard. I picked up a very cute pack of 'mini mini marshmallows' to decorate the top of mine.
Makes 12 big buns 150g digestive biscuits, roughly bashed so you have nice chunks 200g mini marshmallows, or large ones chopped up 4 Crunchie bars, chopped into chunks 250g chocolate (milk or dark) 3 tbsps butter
In a large bowl combine the digestive biscuits, marshmallows and Crunchie bar chunks and set aside. Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and sit over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted. You can also do this in the microwave -- just keep your eye on it and don't forget to stir halfway through. You ideally want the chocolate to be glossy and smooth. Pour the chocolate and butter over the biscuits, marshmallows and Crunchie chunks and, using a wooden spoon, stir until everything is nicely coated. Place heaped spoonfuls into paper cases and place in the fridge to firm up for about 30 minutes. You can also turn the mixture out on to a baking tray and spread it evenly, then slice them up into squares when they are set, but the paper cases are far less trouble, with no washing up!
I am still playing catch up with all the photos from the last few weeks, so you will have to excuse me if my timeline is slightly skewed! We were in Sweden to celebrate Sofie's grandad's 80th and on the day of his birthday, we all rented snow mobiles and went on a guided snow mobile safari through an amazing snow covered forest. We drove to this little cabin in the woods which had a blazing fire going and we were given sticks to cook hot dogs on!
I had made a chocolate fudge birthday cake and after everyone had had a slice and we had sung happy birthday in both English and Swedish we were ushered into a changing room to get ready for an outdoor hot bath. Everyone sat in a massive indoor sauna to get really hot and then when I was adequately cooked I was sent out to tip toe across the freezing wooden floor to jump into a massive wooden bath filled with water at 42 degrees! Not being used to any of this my weak Irish body was ready for a serious lie down after but when were done, I was hoisting myself back up on the snow mobile for the journey back!
One of Sweden's big things in my experience is that they love their dairy products, and cheese is served at breakfast on a daily basis, so it can get a little heavy going. Plus I'm more a porridge with honey and cinnamon type of guy when it comes to breakfast, so I did bake these little muffins to keep myself going. They went down well with the Swedes too! :)
Big Boy Apple Breakfast Muffins I made these lovely muffins when we were in Sweden skiing. They are like a whole breakfast in one muffin, with everything you could need, porridge oats, raisins, apple and yoghurt oh my! To make the cool paper cases in the photos, cut squares of parchment paper, wrap them around a tumbler glass and tie them tightly with some kitchen string. Then simply remove the glass and your left with really cool homemade paper cases!
Makes 12-16 muffins 3 teaspoons of baking powder 1 teaspoon of ground ginger 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 150g of flour 150g of rolled oats 4 eggs 125ml of natural yoghurt 240g of honey 4 apples, cored, peeled and chopped in small chunks 110g of raisins A few slices of apple and a sprinkle of brown sugar to top the muffins
Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas Mark 5. Place baking cases on a baking tray. Sift the flour, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl and stir through the rolled oats. Mix the natural yoghurt and honey in a large measuring jug until combined. Separate the eggs, placing the whites in a large steel bowl and the yolks in with the yoghurt and honey. Make a well in to the oats and flour bowl and pour the yoghurt, honey and egg mix and raisin and apple chunks in. Using a wooden spoon mix gently until everything is combined. Using a whisk, beat the egg whites until soft white peaks form, then gently tip this in to the muffin mix and fold through gently until it is evenly incorporated. Spoon heaped tablespoons of the mix into the paper cases and place a slice of apple and a sprinkle of brown sugar on top. Place in the oven to bake for around 25 minutes.
Christmas has well and truly hit the Skehan household! We've only been in our brand new little cottage two months, but it's safe to say we've finally made our house a home. The Christmas decorations are up, the house is filled with Christmas spirit and the scent of warm baking is wafting from the kitchen. Just this week we carried our first Christmas tree up to the house from a little shop in the village; Christmas is here and I'm loving it! The festive season is a fantastic time for cooking, ingredients are celebrated and people are busy stocking up on all those essential Christmas storecupboard ingredients. I'm huge fan of Christmas baking and we're planning a big baking session with my little cousins who are coming over next week; a giant gingerbread house, homemade toffee, christmas tree biscuits and gingerbread muffins are all on the menu. If all this talk of Christmas baking has got you in the mood, then you have to try these absolutely delicious cranberry and white chocolate muffins. They make the best of leftover cranberries, but you could also use any other berry you wish. The sweetness of the white chocolate really balances out the sourness of the cranberries... utterly delicious!
Cranberry and White Chocolate Muffins If you really want to get ahead of yourself you could make a big batch of these and freeze them to serve for a Christmas morning treat! If you're making them for kids, I'd suggest quickly whizzing the cranberries in a food processor to break up them up a little.
Makes 8-12 Muffins 100g of butter, melted 200ml of buttermilk Zest of 1 orange 2 large free range eggs 150g of caster sugar 250g of self raising flour 250g of fresh cranberries 200g of white chocolate, roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 175oC. Line a muffin tray with paper cases. In a bowl, whisk together the butter, buttermilk, orange zest and set aside. In a standalone mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the butter mixture and whisk until combined. Gently fold in the flour until just combined. Stir through the cranberries and white chocolate until combined. Be sure not to over mix the batter. Spoon the mixture into the papercases and place in the oven to cook for 15-20 minutes until brown on top. Remove from the oven and place on a wire wrack to cool.
I think Sweden is slightly behind on the garden growing front, we visited Sofie's dad's little garden patch last night and his strawberries are still a little bit away from bursting into colour. Though bearing in mind the last time I was here the ground was covered completely in a thick layer of snow, could have a lot to do with it! When I left on Monday our strawberries plants were heaving with big ruby red fruit and suprisingly enough the birds weren't hatching their usual plan to steal them all. I guess seeing me shouting at them in my underwear with a stick during last years seige did the trick!
One of the cool things Sweden has on the strawberry front are these fantastic wild plants which produce the tiniest little sweet strawberries you can imagine. They grow in garden hedgerows and are found throughout Sweden. Hopefully there will be a few ripe ones ready to pick before I leave so I can photograph them and show you. Today's recipe is one I shot a few weeks back with some beautiful Irish strawberries which are bang smack in season right now, so if your tempted pick up some and make this delicious cake!
Mega Strawberry Summer Cake Strawberries really should be celebrated with over the top desserts and if you want to look beyond the simplicity and utter deliciousness of strawberries and cream then this is the cake for you! When you are assembling the layers of cake make sure you give it an extra little squeeze to ensure those mouth watering dribbles of jam down the sides.
Serves 8 3 large eggs 225g of caster sugar 50g of butter, melted 100ml of milk 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 210g plain flour 2 teaspoons of baking powder
For the filling and topping: 80g of strawberry jam 300g of strawberries, hulled 250ml of cream
Preheat the oven to 175oC/Gas 4 and grease and line two x 8 inch spring form baking tins. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. Mix the milk, melted butter and vanilla extract together in a measuring jug and pour into the sugar and egg. Mix through to combine. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the bowl and then using a spatula, gently fold in to the cake mix until completely smooth and combined. Divide the mix evenly between the two baking tins and place in the oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. When both cake layers are completely cooled, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Sieve the jam into a bowl to ensure it is really smooth. If the cake layers have a peak in the middle make sure to slice it off so you are left with perfectly flat layers. Place one layer on a cake stand and dollop with half the cream, spread evenly and then drizzle with the smooth strawberry jam. Carefully place the second cake layer on top and add the remaining whipped cream and strawberries.
It's not all cupcakes and pies in Leila's book, "A Piece Of Cake", she also has a fantastic chapter on savoury breads. Apart from the delicious homemade baguettes below she has a wonderful recipe for the typically Scandinavian, crisp bread, which has whole aisles dedicated to it in Swedish supermarkets. Aswell as numerous variations on the the classic Italian focaccia bread, and mouth watering options for transforming plain old scones!
The first thing you will notice when you read Leila's books, or any Swedish books for that matter, is that fresh yeast is used in many of the bread recipes. Here in Ireland and in many other countries, fresh yeast isn't readily available in the supermarkets, whereas in Sweden it is sold in little foil packs stored in the fridge. If you are going to be following Leila's bread recipes, you're going to get your hands on some fresh yeast. So, for all the Irish readers out there with no fresh yeast, I have the solution, if you go to the bakery in most supermarkets and ask one of the bakers nicely for some fresh yeast, they will generally sell it you for a really reasonable price!
Leila Lindholm's Baguettes We associate the baguette with France, but actually the French didn't start to bake it until the 1920's. That was when Austrian journeymen brought a Polish method using sourdough to France and started to use this for baking baguettes. The approach gives the baguette its typical light structure containing large air bubbles.
Makes 4 loaves For dough 1 5g fresh yeast 300ml cold water 300g strong bread flour Vegetable oil for the baking sheets Flaked salt, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or poppy seeds
Crumble the yeast into a bowl and dissolve it in the water. Add the flour and mix to make a smooth, soft dough. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave the dough to prove for at least 4 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 240oC/475oF/Gas Mark 9. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and divide it into four. Gently press each portion into a rectangle. Tuck in one of the long sides and roll up the dough. Shape the ends into points. Twist the baguettes slightly and put them in a greased baguette tin or an ordinary baking sheet. Leave the baguettes to prove under a tea towel for about an 1 hour. Brush the baguettes with water and sprinkle flaked salt and the seeds of your choice on top. Use a knife to make diagnonal cuts in the surface of each loaf and immediately put the baking sheet in the centre of the oven. Reduce the heat when the baguettes start to colour. Bake for about 30 minutes. Leave to cool uncovered on a wire rack.
For dough 2 15g fresh yeast 300ml cold water 1 batch of dough 1 (see above) 1 tablespoon of salt 1 tablespoon of caster sugar 420-480g bread flour
To make dough 2, crumble the yeast into a bowl and dissolve it in the water. Add dough 1, the salt, sugar and flour and mix until the ingredients bind together. Knead the dough by hand or at a low speed in a mixer for about 15 minutes. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to prove for about 1 and 1/2 hours. Proceed as above.
It's quickly becoming an annual tradition that early on a Saturday morning at the start of autumn just before the leaves fall from the trees, we take my little cousin out blackberry picking. It doesn't take too much persuading really, because at the end of our trek around the local hedgerows and fields, she always knows we'll end up cooking a whole batch of sweets and treats. Last year we spent a bumper day of cooking, which included, Blackberry Coulis, Blackberry Mess and the most amazing blackberry cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting! AMAZING!
This year it was just a big batch of blackberry jam and these really easy blackberry crumb slices. Blackberries are most certainly not the most pretty of fruits our Irish countryside has to offer, especially when compared to our most prized summer berry the seductive and far more grown up, glamourous, strawberry. No the blackberry is a bit more like your rough and ready cousin who doesn’t bother with the latest trends and insists on wearing wooly jumpers! But despite all this, blackberries are by far the most accessible and economical of all the fruits our countryside has to offer, with bramble bushes along most road sides literally teeming with the bulging black fruit. So if you have the time this weekend, grab a few extra hands, pull out an old basket or a bucket and get picking! I got some good advice to bring an umbrella with a hook on the end to pull down the branches- the big ones are always at the top!
Blackberry Crumb Slices I think these blackberry crumb slices match the fruit perfectly! They are most definitely and bit more rustic looking than most cake slices, but are full of warm sponge and juicy flavours. Both the cake mix and the crumb topping are extremely easy to make and great for baking with kids!
Makes 24 delicious slices 115g butter, at room temperature 175g caster sugar 1 large free range egg 280g self raising flour 1 teaspoon of cinnamon 125ml milk 300g of fresh blackberries (you could use frozen if you’re stuck)
For the sweet crumb topping 115g caster sugar 85g plain flour zest of 1 lemon 75g of butter
Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas Mark 5. Grease a rectangular baking tin and line it with parchment paper. If you’re stuck for parchment paper you could probably get away with greasing the tin and flouring it instead. Using a hand mixer, in a bowl beat together the sugar and butter until pale. Add in the egg whisking to incorporate the mixture little by little. Using a wooden spoon fold in the flour, cinnamon and milk. Mix gently until you have a sticky dough like mixture. Spread evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking tin, this requires patience as the dough can be sticky, but bear with it you’ll get there! Then arrange the blackberries on top. Set aside while you prepare the sweet crumb topping. Add all the ingredients for the sweet crumb topping to a bowl and rub the dry ingredients into the butter with your fingertips as you would with pastry. Keep mixing until you have a mixture that resembles rough breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the blackberries in the baking tray and place in the oven on the middle rack for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing into 24 pieces.
This recipe is probably the closest one to the way I like my Chocolate Chip Cookies to be, I adpated it from this recipe from the King Arthur Flour website and it seems to be pretty foolproof. The cookies are crunchy and chewy all at the same time, which, in my books is a winner!
Chocolate Chip Cookies The best way to get nice even cookies is to use an medium sized ice cream scoop. Using one means, not only will you get proffesional looking cookies, but it totally simplifies the spooning out process! Also if you can't get your hands on chocolate chips, just break up some good quality chocolate bars and they will do the trick.
Makes 8-10 cookies 140g/5oz brown sugar 140g/5oz granulated sugar 225g/8oz butter 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 1 large egg 240g/8½oz plain flour 340g/12oz chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease two large baking trays or line with baking parchment. In a large mixing bowl, with a wooden spoon, beat the sugars, salt, vanilla extract, and butter until they are smooth and combined. Add the egg and beat again, until thoroughly mixed through. Mix in the flour and when the dough begins to form, add the chocolate chips and mix again lightly, until everything is combined. Using an medium sized ice cream scoop or a large dessertspoon, spoon the dough onto the prepared baking trays, leaving about 2 inches between them as the cookies will spread out as they cook. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are a nice golden brown with the middle remaining slightly pale. Enjoy the cookies old school style, a little warm with a nice cool glass of milk! JUMANJI!
After a fairly busy weekend the majority of my worldly belongings have been moved into our new house! The bad news we got today however is that it's going to take a whopping 25 days to get broadband installed in the house because there hasn't been a line there since 1994. So a life of robbing other peoples internet is what's on the cards for the next 25 days. Which isn't a bad thing really, I mean I would get far more things done if I wasn't drooling over my new favourite food blog What Katie Ate and talking crap on twitter. The truth is that I will probably far more focused now on cooking in the kitchen without my laptop keys getting covered in flour, corners nearly being singed and screen getting a lovely smattering of grease.
We should really talk about the kitchen, it is a bit of a work in progress but there is lots and lots of light and space so in the next few days I'll be adding a few touches to make it perfect and then you most definitely will be due a photo or two. Very exciting stuff! The other advantage this new lovely house has is a big back garden, which at the moment looks like an overgrown jungle, but with a bit of work, by next spring will make the perfect little vegetable garden! Right enough new house talk how about a recipe?
Rustic Apple and Blackberry Galettes These are one of my favorite little autumnal (yes I said autumnal, it rolls off the tongue doesn't it!) desserts, because they are really easy and make you look like a baking genius, when, realistically all you do is make some pastry and fill it with apples and blackberries. No messing around with blind baking, pie tins, or fancy latticing here, this is a no fuss dessert which you have to serve with cream or, even better, a soft scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Serves 4 Pastry: 250g of plain flour 3 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 140g of chilled butter, cut into pieces 1 large egg yolk 3 tablespoons of cold water
Filling: 250g of blackberries 250g of cooking apples, peeled and sliced thinly 4 tablespoons of light brown sugar A good squeeze of lemon juice 1 egg whisked together with a drop of milk to brush on the galettes
Add the flour, sugar, salt and butter to a mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, combine the dry ingredients with the butter, until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. This can take time, but don't worry the mixture will come together. Add the egg yolk and water and form the dough using your hands. Press the dough into a sausage shape and cover it in clingfilm, place in the fridge to chill for at least 30-40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas mark 5. Mix together the blackberries, apples, sugar, and lemon juice in a bowl and set aside. Split the dough in four and roll each quarter out into 6"/15cm circles on a floured work surface with a rolling pin. Transfer the rounds to a baking sheet with a non stick surface. Add a handful of the blackberry apple mix to the centre of each pastry circle and fold the sides of the pastry up and over the sides of the fruit mix. Brush with the pastry with egg wash and place in the oven to bake for 20-30 minutes. Allow to cool before serving with a dollop of thick, cool whipped cream and dust with a little icing sugar.
I was honoured this year to be included in the line up chefs demonstrating at two of the Irish summers top foodie events Taste of Dublin and Bord Bia's Bloom in the Park. Shamefully I had never been to either events, so it was fantastic to finally have my eyes opened to massive amount of work that goes in to creating such amazing displays and stands. I have had the experience of demonstrating in front of large crowds before and a brief stint in the musical world has meant that I no longer suffer too badly from nerves, but this was a little different. When you are included on the lineup with well established people who you have watched cooking growing up the pressure is really on! For my demonstration at Bloom I did a selection of dishes based around in season produce and one of them was this mouthwatering Summer Berry Pavlova.
Summer Berry Layered Pavlova This mix makes a chewy, marshmallow meringue, which goes perfectly with the cream and berries. Layering the meringue discs gives this beautiful summer dish fantastic texture! If you haven't tried making meringues before, don't be scared as this mix is fairly fool proof, just pop the icing sugar and egg whites in a mixer and whisk till you have stiff glossy peaks, add in the cornflour and white wine vinegar, pop in the oven and you're sorted.
Serves 8 250g icing sugar 4 egg whites 2 teaspoons of cornflour 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar 500ml of cream, whipped 250g of mixed berries
Preheat the oven to 150oC/Gas Mark 2 Line two baking trays with baking parchment. Draw a large circle 25cm/10inch on each piece of parchment paper. Place the icing sugar and egg whites in a standing food mixer and whisk on high for 10 minutes until glossy white peaks form. Using a spatula, gently fold in the cornflour and the white wine vinegar. Divide the meringue mixture between the two baking trays and using a tablespoon, form two large meringue discs. Bake for 45 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Assemble the pavlova, by spooning half the cream onto the first layer of meringue, adding half the berries and topping with the other meringue layer, remaing berries and cream.
Who doesn’t like Meringues? They always go down well in my books and are a really great dessert to make in advance because you can bake them ahead of time and they store extremely well. In our case for foodstock we baked off a mammoth amount of them, 700 to be exact on the Monday before the event on Wednesday and when it came to serving all we had to do was give them a scoop of Jameson whiskey cream, a drizzle of chocolate sauce and a sprinkle of chopped toasted hazelnuts!
I have to say that by the end of the night, there was a fantastic sense of team work when everyone who had been helping us all night, came down to the kitchen- the chefs, the girls from Bord Bia, the staff at the Chalet and the guys from Le Fooding, to work together to get the meringues out and ready! Every free space in the kitchen was taken up and there was meringues as far as the eye could see and in no time we were ready to serve up the last course. Let me just say that these chewy mocha meringues dripping with chocolate sauce didn’t last long in front of the eager crowd and within no time at all we had served them all up!
Mocha Meringues with Jameson Whiskey Cream, Chocolate Sauce and toasted Hazelnuts This batter makes a really chewy, marshmallow meringue, which goes perfectly with the whiskey cream. If you aren't a coffee fan, drop the espresso powder from the recipe and replace it with more cocoa powder.
Makes 12 meringues 250g icing sugar 4 egg whites 2 teaspoons of cornflour 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar 10g of good quality cocoa powder 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder 60g of chopped toasted hazelnuts
Preheat the oven to 150oC/Gas Mark 2 Line two baking trays with baking parchment. Place the icing sugar and egg whites in a standing food mixer and whisk on high for 10 minutes until glossy white peaks form. Using a spatula, gently fold in the cornflour and the white wine vinegar. When this is mixed through, sift the cocoa powder and espresso powder over the meringue mix and gently fold in. Using a tablespoon, place 3inch/8cm spoonfuls of the meringue mix onto the baking tray and flatten each one gently in the centre with the back of a spoon. Bake for 45 minutes.
For the dark chocolate sauce: 30g caster sugar 60ml of water 50g of good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon of espresso powder
Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan over a medium heat and stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Add the espresso powder, whisk through and bring the mix to a steady simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, allow to sit for 1-2 minutes, then add the chocolate and whisk through until combined. Sift in the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. For the Jameson Whiskey Cream 375ml of cream 3 tablespoons of Jameson whiskey 3 tablespoons of icing sugar
Whisk the cream into soft peaks. Dissolve the icing sugar with the whiskey in a bowl and then add to the cream, folding to combine.
To assemble the meringues, place one on each plate, add a spoonful of Jameson whiskey cream on top, drizzle with the chocolate sauce and sprinkle with the toasted nuts.
As I might have mentioned on the blog before I absolutely LOVE Donna Hay, her stylish magazines and her beautiful books. I found this recipe in a Christmas edition of Donna Hay's magazines last year and have had a craving to make them ever since. Sofie spotted them the other day when we were looking through a pile of Christmas foodie mags and insisted we make them as soon as possible. We headed over to Sofie's grandparents house on Sunday where we had to compete for space to bake our cookies as her aunt, cousins, and granny were all busy working on gingerbread muffins and gingerbread cookies!
We managed to squeeze ourselves in amongst everyone else and started on our cookies! They really look super festive, but they work just as well as really indulgent double chocolate cookies without the candy cane chunks. I have a strange fondness for chopping chocolate so I took that job while Sofie got to work measuring everything on her granny's brilliant retro weighing scales! I'm pretty proud of our results so you gotta give them a go!
Donna Hay's Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
Personally I think these cookies taste even better a day or two after you make them. The intense dark chocolate flavour mellows out a bit and makes a really moist cookie. You can also make these without the candy cane chunks which aren't essential. Chopping the candy canes is fairly easy though so don't worry, just use a sharp knife.
Makes about 12-15 cookies 110g butter, softened and chopped 1 cup (175g) brown sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup (150g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted ¼ cup (25g) cocoa, sifted ½ teaspoon biccarbonate of baking soda 120g dark chocolate, melted 280g dark chocolate, extra, chopped 120g candy canes, chopped
Preheat oven to 160°C/ Gas Mark 3. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8–10 minutes or until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and melted chocolate and beat until just combined. Fold through the extra chopped chocolate. Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into rounds. Place on baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper, allowing room for the cookies to spread, and flatten slightly. Press the chopped candy canes into the tops of the cookies and bake for 12–15 minutes or until the edges are firm. Allow to cool on the trays.
Yesterday, I spent the day getting a tour of Lamb farms in Co. Kerry an hours drive from where we were staying the night before in Ballincollig, Co. Cork. Michael Gottstein and Dennis Carrol from Ring Of Kerry Quality Assured Lamb were my guides for the day and we saw lots of great things which I will save alongside some pics for my next post!
After the great reaction to the video of the lovely Sophie from Kooky Dough, I persuaded her to share with me her secret recipe for her favourite homemade cookies. Now there has been A LOT of discussion over the perfect cookies, but for me it's all about making them homemade with a decent recipe and with a little bit of love! Sorry I'm feeling very loving today! :)
Sophie's Chocolate & Hazelnut Chip Cookies Sophie spend a lot of time creating the perfect cookie recipe for her Kooky Dough, but she has given me this, her secret (not for long!) recipe for Chocolate and Hazelnut Chip cookies. The cookies are delicious and the dough can be frozen if you wanted to make a few ahead of time.
Makes about 12-15 cookies 225g butter 375g muscovado sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 large eggs 350g plain flour ¾ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 250g good quality chocolate, chopped 100g toasted hazelnuts, chopped
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and fold in, then add the chocolate and hazelnuts. Form the dough into a round, wrap in cling film and transfer to the refrigerator for 30 mins. When ready to bake, simply cut the dough into slices and lay on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for approx 10-12 minutes or until pale golden brown.
Variation: White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies Substitute white chocolate and dried cranberries for the chocolate and hazelnuts above.
All this snow is not good for the diet. The cold weather seems to always make me crave serious comfort food so I do have to apologise for posting another seriously delicious, seriously sweet recipe! Most of yesterday was spent very busily building a snowman in my friends back garden, so there wasn't much time for cooking. Dinner last night was a quick carbonara, thrown together using the bacon I was gifted by the lads at Truly Irish our stand neighbours at the RDS, who gave me a great selection of pork products to try out! A big pasta dish and a great movie made the perfect snowy evening in!
Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies I don't think there is any question that the Americans know how to create the most overindulgent desserts, and this one ticks all the boxes. These were created by an American chain of restaurants and have something of a cult following in the US. Put simply, it's cookie dough piled into individual serving dishes and baked at high heat, so you get a set top and edges but a ridiculously gooey interior. When they are pulled out of the hot oven, a big dollop of vanilla ice cream is plonked on top to melt and mingle with hot, soft cookie. Makes four individual portions.
Serves 4 200g butter, softened 200g light brown sugar, packed 1 large egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 200g plain flour 1 tsp baking soda 120g good-quality milk chocolate chips Vanilla ice cream, to serve
Pre-heat the oven to 260°C/Gas Mark 9. In a mixing bowl, using a electric hand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until it is light and pale. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat through. Add in the flour and baking soda, little by little, until you have a stiff dough. Using a spatula, stir through the chocolate chips until evenly combined. Divide the cookie dough among four large six-inch ramekins and place in the oven on a baking sheet. Bake for seven to 10 minutes but keep an eye on them, you want them to puff up and become golden brown around the sides and just about set in the middle. Remove them from the oven and serve straight away with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top.
I’ve always been a bit of an arts and crafts fan, especially when I was growing up. I guess that’s why making these fortune cookies appealed to me in the first place! Fortune cookies are really fun to make and customise. They add a cool little touch to home cooked Asian dishes. The origin of the fortune cookie seems to be highly disputed, and in their current form appear to be more of an American take on an early Japanese idea. The cookies served at many restaurants are supposedly filled with a Chinese proverb but many cynics have pointed out that people are actually hired to write these! Either way I think the idea is quite nice!
I have made these years ago from a recipe in an Asian cookery book, but I couldn’t manage to find it when I went routing the other day. Instead I have used this recipe which seems to be fairly similar, but only makes 10. I have doubled the recipe here, but be warned making this many is quite time consuming, as you can only make a few at a time.
Fortune Cookies
The trick to making the cookies is timing, so prepare everything you need before you stick them in the oven. You have to mould the hot little discs as soon as they come out of the oven, so I would suggest you use a pair of gloves or some kitchen paper. I don't have asbestos hands so when I first made these I was hopping around the place from the heat of moulding them with my bare hands. NOT FUN! The technique of moulding is fairly simple, you fold the disc in half, and then fold it in half again over the rim of a glass. Sound easy? It is!
4 large egg whites. 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. 6 tablespoons of sunflower oil. 175g of all purpose white flour. 375g of granulated sugar. 1 ½ teaspoon of cornflour ½ teaspoon of salt. 6 teaspoons of water.
Preheat the oven to 150˚C/Gas 2/300˚F and grease a wide baking sheet. Write and cut out your own customised fortunes on little strips of paper about 10cm by 1cm and set aside. Using a whisk, beat the egg whites in a large bowl with the oil, and vanilla extract. Beat them until they become thick, but not stiff. Sieve in the flour and cornflour. Add the sugar, salt and water and mix through the egg whites. Combine thoroughly until you have no lumps and bumps!
Place 4 level tablespoon of the mix evenly spaced on the baking sheet. I find working with four discs at a time to be the easiest. Distribute the mix evenly by tilting the tray until you get a nice wide disc around 10cm in diameter. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the cookies go a light golden brown colour around the edges. Working quickly- remove one disc from the baking sheet, place the fortune in the center and gently fold in half. Bend the two ends of the disc over the rim of a glass and hold in position for 20 seconds until it cools. Repeat the process until you get through all the cookie mix.
I have over one hundred cookbooks in my possession and although I love to flick through them for ideas and inspiration, I have rarely cooked a recipe exactly as it is written. One of my new years resolutions was to cook my way through some of my favourite cookbooks and seek out the best recipes! I made these chocolate caramel squares recently and they went down a storm!
Bill Granger's Chocolate Caramel Slices (Recipe from Bill Granger's "Holiday") This fantastic and highly addictive recipe comes from Aussie chef, Bill Granger and it makes possibly the most delicious chocolate caramel slices you will ever taste. The addition of coconut here gives a great extra texture and flavour.
Makes about 20 squares 125g plain flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 90g dessicated coconut 115g caster sugar 125g butter, melted
Filling 100g butter 100g brown sugar 397g tin of condensed milk 2 tablespoons of golden syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping 150g dark chocolate
Preheat the oven to 180oC/Gas Mark 4 and lightly grease and line an 18 x 28cm baking tin. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, add the coconut, sugar and butter and stir together well. Press firmly into the base of the tin and bake for 12 minutes, or until light golden. To make the filling, put the butter, brown sugar, condensed milk, golden syrup and vanilla in a saucepan over a low heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes , or until light golden. Pour evenly over the cooked base, then return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. Once the caramel is cool, put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally until the chocolate has melted (or melt the chocolate very carefully in a microwave oven). Spread the chocolate evenly over the caramel and place in a cool place to set, before slicing into squares.
This one goes down really well when entertaining! It's an easy one to make ahead of time and stick in the fridge until you are ready to cook it.
Spinach and Riccotta Stuffed Pasta Shells This is a delicious pasta dish, which is packed with fresh ingredients. It is a little bit tricky but the tastes are great and well worth the effort!
Serves 3-4 portions. 1 tablespoon of olive oil. 3 cloves of garlic chopped finely. A good glug of red wine. 2 cans of chopped tomatoes. A handful of fresh herbs chopped coarsely (Oregano, Parsley, Basil) 250g of large pasta shells. 250g of Ricotta cheese. 250g of steamed spinach. A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper.
Fry the garlic in the olive oil in a large frying pan for 30-40 seconds. Add the chopped tomatoes and and the red wine. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced and become thicker. Season with a little sea salt and black pepper and make sure to stir every few minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the pasta until al denté. While the pasta is cooking, mix the ricotta, herbs, steamed spinach, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl until everything is combined. Spread a layer of half the tomato sauce in a medium baking dish. When the pasta is cooked drain and allow to cool in a colander. Spoon a heaped teaspoon amount of the ricotta mixture into each one of the pasta shells and place in the baking tray. When you have added all the stuffed pasta shells to the baking tray, cover with the remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle over a handful of parmesan cheese and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese gets a nice colour. Serve straight away with a crispy green salad.
I have mentioned Leila Lindholm on this blog quite a few times at this stage, she is my baking hero, plus I think I might have a little bit of a crush on her! Leila is from Sweden and I was given a present of her book "A Piece Of Cake" in Swedish last year by Sofie's dad. I have been hooked on her delicious recipes ever since. She has been in the kitchen since the age of three helping her grandmother and still remembers the first batch of muffins she ever cooked. I love hearing about those sort of stories when you read other cooks books, it gives a much more interesting sense of where the recipes come from.
Leila is extremely successful in her native Sweden and has released 3 cookbooks there, including my favourite "A Piece Of Cake". I speak a good bit of Swedish, enough to read a cookbook, and having worked over there in a restaurant, my Swedish food vocab is pretty up to scratch, so I have worked my way through a good few recipes in the book. However I recently got sent a copy of her book in English, as it has just been released in the UK and it has rekindled my love for her recipes. The ones without pictures, which I may have skipped over in Swedish, I am now salivating over and reading properly! It's all very exciting, so I have decided this is going to be Leila Lindholm week here on the blog, featuring a recipe everyday from her fab book "A Piece Of Cake". The first recipe I have chosen for today is these fantastic Peanut Butter Cupcakes". As you might have noticed I have a bit of a weakness for cupcakes and I have been meaning to try these ones in particular for so long! Enjoy!
Leila Lindholm's Peanut Butter Cupcakes There are loads of delicious frostings you can use to ice your cupcakes, and there are no limits to how you decorate them. This frosting is as tasty as it is simple to make.
Makes 12 cakes 3 organic eggs 225g caster sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar 50g unsalted butter 100ml sour cream 2 tablespoons baking powder 2 tablespoons cold coffee 210g plain flour 4 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder 1 pinch of salt 100g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) 150g salted peanuts and extra for decoration
For the peanut butter frosting: 100g soft peanut butter 240g icing sugar 4 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar 150g cream cheese 1 tablespoon warm coffee
Preheat the oven to 175oC/350oF/Gas Mark 4. Beat together the eggs, butter and vanilla sugar until pale and fluffy. Mellt the butter, add the sour cream and coffee and blend with the egg mixture. Mix together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt and carefully fold into the mixture. Chop the chocolate coarsely and melt it in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Add the the mixture. Put paper cases in a muffin tin. Chop the peanuts and add them to the paper cases, layering them with the cake batter until two-thirds full. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool. Stir the peanut butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla sugar and cream cheese until creamy. Stir in the coffee. Spread the frosting on top of the cakes and decorate with extra peanuts.
