Savoury cupcakes

Who said cupcakes had to be sweet?

This is a follow-on from a discovery I made a few months back: the savoury cake. It’s a must-do for all cake enthusiasts, now you can eat cake for dinner and dessert!

Great summer food too, a nice savoury cupcake with a bit of salad…bring it on

Tiramisù – real Italian styleee

This looks almost as beautiful as Italian sounds...

We’re making Tiramisù today….got a trusty Italian here to show me the way and I can’t believe how easy it is to make…

Fancy one? Here’s how:

You need (for four, double depending on hunger/dinner guests etc)

• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of caster sugar for each egg
• 400g marscapone
• 2 teaspoons(ish) of cafe
• Boudoirs/Savoiardi/finger things (don’t actually know the English name) 200g
• Cocoa powder to throw over the top..

Method:

It is simple, believe me, even though there’s lots of parts to it and a lot of strong muscle action is required, it’s really not that difficult to make..

Stage one: Making the cremey thing

• Separate eggs, two whites in one bowl, four yolks in another, throw the other two whites…(unless you’re a fan of scrambled white on toast..)
• Put all the sugar in the bowl with the yolks
• Put all the marscapone in with it..
• Mix well

Meanwhile: (If you have a nice friend on hand to whisk the whites while you’re tending to stage one, if not then leave this stage til you’ve finished because you cannot stop whisking once you’ve started)

• Get a whisk and whisk, adding just a touch of salt before to give it that extra omph..
• Do this until it’s all fluffy and airy… a bit like this—————————————————>>
• Now mix with the orangey mixture

Make some coffee: You know the drill…

• Then dunk in the…finger biscuit things, one at a time, do it v quick, just enough to be soaked a bit, then put one layer of the biscuits in a rectangular or square tin

The final stage:

• Now dollop on top one layer of the cremey stuff, spread so it’s flat
• Layer on the finger things
• Do as many layers as you wish/the dish will permit…
• Then, finish with a cremey layer and sieve on some choc powder
• Leave in the fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight if you’re organised and making it the night before…(advised)

Aaaah sucked in – Royal Wedding Cupcakes….

So I ended up getting swept into this Royal Wedding malarky…I read the odd cynical blog post here and there that made me chuckle…stumbled across the odd crazy memorabilia …(this is a personal fave!..along with this - seriously everything’s been covered…)

And before I knew it I was googling ‘Royal Wedding Cupcakes’…and here I am, shamefully mixing up a buttery batch of Will n’ Kate related cake…

I’m not getting the day off after all so no doubt I deserve a plateful or two of my favourite sponge and creme …and whilst I’m there I might as well throw in the happy couple…why not…be rude not too (or weird to? I’m not sure anymore)

I got a bit carried away (as if planning to make a royal-themed cake wasn’t that already) and decided to double the quantity of everything (lots of hungry mouths to feed).

So that brings me to my, yes quite cringe situation, making some Royal Wedding cupcakes…and having to face the prospect of going public with it tomorrow.

Also a bit worried as there’s a hell of a lot of mix to get through and not much oven to go with it.

If you too want create your very own batch of  Royal Wedding Cakes, don’t be shy, keep reading this post and a plate of posh cuppies could be yours.

 

Here’s how:

Mix: I used my trustworthy Jamie O recipe, (why  change!) all is the same as previous post, except the topping.

Topping: I’ve realised that icing sugar is rare to find or doesn’t exist in France so that idea went out the window, today I went for the easy option and went for ready-made squirty creme…(cooking fifty mini cakes is taking up all my time as it is, no time for icing)

The essential part: Will and Kate stuff: I had a quick scan on the net  (never fails to deliver) and found some piccies of the happy couple, printed out the images, cut them out and stuck them on some toothpicks (ahhh….I went to waaaaay to much trouble didn’t I…)

So. Once the cupcakes are all cooled, totally cold, then it’s time to get squirting some creme. Then stick in your little royal wedding sticks and away you go! Won’t your friends be impressed (and probably a bit freaked out. I think on reflection maybe along with the bunting and party I went a wee bit too far.

But hey! I’m not the only one…and it could have been worse.

eek mistake! (it HAPPENS)

All we wanted to do was make some harmless caramel-filled sponge cakes….nothing too extreme right? Well……

See we were aiming for these. But they didn’t quite go to plan….

Things seemed to be going for a while:

But then we tried to make caramel…

Which just wasn’t happening for us… One big gloop…

Then somehow we managed to smash the mixing bowl (see below)

They looked pretty good though, (once we managed to get  rid of the glass infested ones….eek)

But despite their deceivingly scrumptious appearance, the cakes had literally no taste whatsoever and no moisture for that matter either = sad times.This amount of bad luck doesn’t usually happen in one baking session, seriously, please stay tuned! I just thought I should share with you my little kitchen nightmare – what’s a cake or mistake blog after all without the odd disaster?

3 minute micro-onde marvel (aka the best cake ever)

Microwaved heaven on a plate (p.s this photo does NOT do this cake justice...)

My move to France was difficult as a baking fanatic because I found myself for months without an oven. This means my cake making activities have been kept to a minimum…but thanks to my new-found (equally sweet-toothed) friends I can get my regular butter/sugar mix fix at chez-their house.

Three minutes is all it takes....

However, yesterday I had a little baking sesh with said friends and OMG I discovered probably one of the best chocolate cakes in the world (I owe you big time whoever invented it) and do you know what? It took ten minutes to mix up and…

three minutes to cook in the microwave. This means I can make this at home, sans oven!! woopwoop……(I am going to get very fat though).

The funniest thing is, at the same time we attempted to make some kind of gooey, caramel filled cupcake thing, which took us literally two hours of stirring, mixing, melting and glooping but this resulted in a broken bowl, 20 or so minutes in the oven, resulting in a cake with literally no flavour….the lesson? Don’t judge a cake by its cooking time!

Microwave cake:

That means:

Three eggs (we rebelled and used two – was still to die for)

150g butter

160g dark cooking choc

150g sugar

60g flour

Make:

Melt butter+choc

Flour+sugar

Egg action

Time to combine...

Now all we need to do is…..

And by the time you’ve made a cuppa..

DING!

What gorgeous creation…

Savoury cake…

I managed to persuade a Frenchie or two to show me how they make those delicious savoury cakes they make here that don’t seem to exist in Anglettere as far as I’m aware. Apparently these little treats are also called cake in France, BUT only when they’re in the long tin shape…any other shape and it’s a gateaux (it’s all very specific here).

CAKE

Gateaux

It was surprisingly easy and très tasty:

That’s 175g flour

3 eggs

1 (small) glass of milk

1/2 packet of butter

Grated cheese (optional)

Raising agent

Any toppings you fancy (we went for an onion/pepper/courgette one and then a ham and olive one)

To make it’s pretty much the same drill as making a sweet cake:

Mix the butter with the flour and then add in the eggs one at a time

Add 1/3 packet of the weird French raising ingredient (or about 1 teaspoon of baking agent)

Good ole alsa

Throw in the milk and then the cheese.

Mix

Then it’s time to add in whatever kind of filling you’re craving (I have to say ham and olives worked like a dream. Courgette is pretty darn tasty too)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cook it for about 15 mins in the oven.

and the result…well, my work and house mates definitely weren’t complaining….

It was verging on being an omelette but I really liked the moist texture…

The last one looked like this (a bit more bread like this is what we were originally aiming for, but either way it was 'superrrrr' - with a French r)

An English touch…

Scones : showing the French English food can (sometimes) be good. The classic, scone+creme+jam fail safe!

 

So, as discussed in the previous post, the French have a lot to offer in terms of sweet treats: the pan au choc, bioche, le crêpe, gallons  of chocolate spread, the macaroon and the tart au flan….But along with the cupcakes we have another tasty trick up our sleeves. My French cooking ‘amis’ were yet to try ‘Le scone’. I have to admit they were not on top form (a bit flat due to lack of self raising flour in France, or my lack of finding it more like), but either way they tasted great and I managed to get another thumbs up from the French…(this is kinda a big deal by the way)

Lying low....

Recipe (provided by my friend, who by the way is the one who can’t spell):

Long live le cupcake

I’m proud to say that we even managed to get the French seal of approval with these spongy/gooey little beautes…who says English food is shite ey! (assuming the cupcake is in fact English?) I so, we can certainly give the pan “oh” chocolate a run for its money…

get your greedy little paw on one of these delights

Recipe: Jamie’s finest (It’s ALL about the four eggs I keep tellin’ ya!)

Oh and also…the French don’t seem to do self raising flour, so for any cupcake keen expats out there, you need to get yourself one of these wonderous little pink paper sachets (I am a sucker for a cute packet) :

Tarte Au Flan

The perfect French Flan (that I have to say, had little to do with unfortunately)

It was the perfect French evening. Rose wine, entrees, good French banter and after a bit of ‘cuisining’ (excuse my ridiculous Franglais) cooking. My new French pal was kind enough to let me record and share with the blogging world a recipe that was close to her heart, and also worked damn well. These French, they really really do know how to cook! It’s no stereotype. We tested out the tarte the next day with our French exchange group and oh did it go down well!! The slice was as good as (if not better) than a piece from the local patisserie. And it was all thanks to Emilie’s amazing recipe, her careful precision, and not forgetting Franck’s great stirring skills.

Finalement J’ai fait les crêpes

bonne appetite

Rainy cold Sunday demands a crêpe making session

Such an exciting moment…After six weeks en France I finally get cooking again. And of course you can’t live in France and not get involved in some crêpe making…we had planned to go to the beach or explore the ville a bit, but as the South of France was on ‘orange alert’ (which basically means nonstop rain) we took this as an opportunity to learn how to make a crêpe and stuff ourselves all day. (Will I ever tire of these French carbs?)

My housemate is from Brittany (home of the famous savoury galette) and boy does is she meticulous about her crêpe making! I was very impressed, whereas us Anglais chuck in the flour, throw in an egg or two, freestyle with the milk, give it a stir, whack it in a pan, fail to flip it and then wonder why it all went wrong.

Well…for the French (from what I saw today), it’s all got to be just right. For starters, all the ingredients have to be the same temperature. So here is how to go about your crêpe  making the proper French way:

1. Mix together the two eggs with 125g  flour
2. Once it’s well mixed add the milk
3. Drop in some oil into a hot pan
4. At this point we were shooed away (it appears too many English cooks spoil the broth)
5. Add some vanilla flavouring if you so wish
6. Drizzle a drop of batter into the pan to check it’s hot enough
7. Add the batter, just a thin layer
8. Voila!

Topping Suggestions:

Sweeee-eat:

Melted chocolate or Nutella/chocolate spread

The ole classic never fails: sugar et lemon

Savory:

Savoury: Cheese (goats cheese was literally unbelievable)

Ham

Tomato

CREPE OR CRAP:

Even the French manage to muck up a crêpe every now and again...