Easy Cinnamon Rolls

by giraffescanbake // January 27, 2014 // 1 Comment

Yummy cinnamon rolls from scratch with only one rise needed. Perfect!

I woke up this morning and thought “I could really go for a cinnamon roll right now” and instead of popping down the local bakery and buying myself one like a normal person, I decided to make some. But let’s be honest, nothing beats a homemade cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven. Besides, I had everything I needed in the house already.

These are the easiest and quickest cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made. I got the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, it’s a really great recipe and I barely changed it all. You should definitely check out her blog, I have so many posts bookmarked to try later! If making sweet rolls makes you a bit nervous because of all the complicated steps and a thousand different proving times, this is the recipe for you. You’ll have a hard time getting it wrong and you only need to prove it once.

You have your basic dough with instant yeast and scalded milk. It’s important that if you’re using dairy milk that you scald it, otherwise the proteins in the dairy will kill the yeast and then you’ll get a sucky rise. Or at least that’s the reason I’ve always heard, I’m still learning the science side of baking! This dough only needs one short proving (rising) time which is perfect for me because I want my cinnamon rolls NOW! They rise beautifully too, look at this:

Before

After!

Once you have the dough all together, you just knead it for a few mins (a perfect time to get out your frustrations) and then roll it out into an oblong shape. Get all that filling in there and roll it up then slice it into even pieces, stick then in your dish and let the yeast and warmth do the work. I don’t have a fancy proving draw (one of my biggest disappointments in life), I just turn the oven to 150C while I’m making up the dough, when I’m ready to leave them to prove I loosely cover them with foil, stick them in the oven and turn it off.

Once they’re nicely risen you need to preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5, wait patiently for it to heat up and then bake them for about 25 – 30 minutes. About 15 minutes after you’ve put them in the oven, just cover them loosely with foil to stop the sugar browning too much. You can see from mine where the foil wasn’t covering the back and the sugar got a bit burned.

Leave them to cool for a few minutes. I know you want to dig in straight away but you need to be patient and glaze them first! The glaze is a nice simple one and you can change up the flavours however you like. The original recipe had a coffee glaze but I don’t like coffee so I made mine with cream cheese, yum! It’s just a basic mix of icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract plus whatever flavouring you want. I used some cream cheese I had left over from my red velvet cupcakes and it worked out at about 3 tbsp, you can add more if you like of course!

Now just drizzle that glaze all over your rolls. Don’t be shy with it, bathe them in it! Actually, I tend to be a bit conservative with it and then leave the left overs next to the rolls for people to add more to if they like as I know not everyone has as big of a sweet tooth as I do. Now dig into that warm gooey goodness and enjoy!

[recipe title=”Easy Cinnamon Rolls” servings=”10″ time=”2hrs 30 mins” ]

For the rolls:

345g all-purpose flour
3 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 package instant yeast (1 packet = 7g)
120ml water
60ml milk
40g unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:

45g unsalted butter, softened
1 and 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
25g white sugar
25g brown sugar

For the glaze:

120g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
3 tbsp cream cheese, softened

Make the dough

Set aside 75g of the flour. Then toss the remaining flour, sugar, salt and yeast together in a big bowl. Set aside
Put the water, milk and butter in a bowl and microwave until the butter is melted and mixture is hot, about 45 degrees C. Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture until combined. Stir in the egg and enough of the reserved flour to make a soft, smooth dough. The dough is ready when it comes away from the side of the bowl and is elastic in consistency.
Lightly flour your worktop and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes. I use this time to clean up the mess I’ve made!

Make the filling

Roll the dough out into a 14×8 inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter on top. Mix together the cinnamon and sugars and sprinkle it over the dough, right up to the edges. If, like me, you’re a big lover of cinnamon you can sprinkle a little extra cinnamon on top for good measure!
Tightly roll the dough so you have a big long sausage. Cut into even slices and place in a lightly greased 8-inch round pan, I used a sandwich tin with cake release. Loosely cover with foil and leave to prove in a warm place for about 90 minutes.
When the rolls are done proving, when they’ve about doubled in size, remove from oven and preheat it to 190C and bake for 25-30 minutes until they go a light brown. About 15 minutes into the cooking time, cover the rolls loosely with foil to stop the sugar burning. Place dish on a wire rack to cool slightly.

Make the glaze

Mix the icing sugar with milk until smooth, then stir in the cream cheese until smooth. Adjust the sugar and milk quantities to suit how thick you want your glaze. Drizzle all over the rolls and serve immediately.

[/recipe]

Welcome to the World, Thing 1 and Thing 2

by giraffescanbake // January 21, 2014 // 2 Comments

In the early hours of this morning my sister gave birth to twins! So I baked some cupcakes to celebrate (naturally).

And how could I bake anything other than Dr Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes? I had the idea for these a while ago after seeing something similar on the internet and I’ve just been counting down the days until I could do it!

I had a bit of a struggle with these as I either needed red cake or red cases. And since I couldn’t find red cases for love nor money, it had to be red cake, which naturally means red velvet, my fave! The problem here being that I also didn’t have any red food colouring! For those of you experienced with red velvet you’ll know that the original red colour comes from the reaction between the cocoa powder and acidic ingredient (usually white vinegar of some kind), but to get a garishly bright red that most of us are used to when it comes to red velvet, you also need a ton of red food colouring. I somehow managed to get a nice good red colour from just the cocoa and vinegar plus some ruby sugarflair gel colouring (which is a dark pink) and a very tiny amount blue food colouring (thanks to my colour theory expert of a best friend for that tip!). While organising my cake decorating supplies later today I discovered I did have red food colouring after all, I guess that’s what I get for not organising that stuff sooner!

I’m not gonna give you the red velvet recipe today as I was on a bit of an improvisation with this one, I also made my own buttermilk, this was a strictly “only use what I already have in the house” project!. When I finally write up a red velvet recipe (and I will, it’s my favourite cake) I’ll let you know how to make your own buttermilk too, a quick google will help you out there in the meantime though.

But what is red velvet without cream cheese frosting, right? And that’s the recipe I’m going to give you today. I’m a huge fan of cream cheese frosting, it’s my absolute favourite and I pretty much love it however it comes. But sometimes I find it can be a bit heavy with too much sweetness and not enough tangyness (totally a word), which is why I love this recipe. It’s really light and creamy and the small amount of sugar really lets the cream cheese shine through! Plus it’s still stiff enough to pipe.

So, this one’s for you T1 and T2. This is your Aunty Michelle’s way of welcoming you into this crazy world

[recipe title=”Cream Cheese Frosting” servings=”” time=”15 mins”]

Ingredients

230g full fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
60g icing sugar, sifted
160ml cold double cream*

Method

Beat the cream cheese until smooth
Add vanilla and sugar and beat until combined and smooth
Using a whisk attachment, add the cream a little at a time and whip until frosting is thick and ready to pipe
Add more sugar or cream to adjust consistency if necessary

*Note – make sure you use a double cream with at least 35% fat content and one that you know whips well. If you’re not using a good whipping cream then your frosting will not thicken up properly.

[/recipe]

Bring The Fun Back Into Baking!

by giraffescanbake // January 15, 2014 // No Comments

I love making yummy treats and pretty cakes that take days to perfect, but baking should also be fun! Sometimes I get too caught up in making everything look right that I forget I’m supposed to enjoy this, that’s normally when I end up going weeks without baking. This evening I went back to just having fun while baking and it was so good to not worry about the tiniest little things that may mess up how the cake looks, I didn’t worry about anything at all in fact. This evening I had my nephew over and helped him bake his birthday cake!

He turns 11 on Friday and normally I bake their cakes. But I had promised Jordon he could come bake with me one day, so he came and baked his own birthday cake. He did most of the work which seems like a cop out on my part, but we had a lot of fun and he was very pleased with the result. Honestly, I think this was much more exciting for him than just getting a good looking cake based on his interests like what his brothers got (well, semi-good looking. My fondant skills are still developing haha). I encourage you all to help a loved one (either a kid or baking impaired adult haha) bake their own cake, they’ll probably end up appreciating it much more!

So, today I’m giving you a lesson on how to bring the fun back into baking.

Step #1

Pre-measure the ingredients before you start. Once it’s done it’s done and then there’s nothing getting in the way of baking fun!

Step #2

Go crazy with colour! Who cares if it’s not along some particular theme or even if they go together, just pick your favourite colours and run with it!

Step #3

If you can’t decide between frosting flavours, do them all!

Vanilla?

Or chocolate?

Both! (and don’t forget those colours)

Step #4

Pile on the frosting, there’s plenty of time to worry about cavities tomorrow!

Step #5

Go wild with decorations! Why limit yourself? There’s no such thing as too much bling!

Step #6

Admire your creation. But not for too long, you don’t want to waste good eating time!

Step #7

Eat it!

Um, I don’t have photos of this step because by the time we were done it was already 30 minutes past his bed time (with a 20 minute drive back to his house) and I wasn’t about to feed him all that sugar so late on a school night, have him bouncing off the walls all night and face the wrath of my heavily pregnant with twins sister! Have fun guys, but be sensible haha!

Step #8

This is the most important step and is actually the second part of every step above: Have fun and don’t worry! Trust me, I know a lot of fun and enjoyment can come from creating beautiful baked delights, but every once in a while let your hair down and just do it for the fun of it. And, even better, show somebody else why you love doing this and how much fun it can be!

Time for bed for this baker, all that fun has worn me out! See ya later kiddos and don’t forget to lick the spoon when you’re done!

Quick and Easy Chocolate Mousse

by giraffescanbake // January 11, 2014 // 2 Comments

What do you when you have 15 egg yolks laying around? Make chocolate mousse of course!

I love most things meringue based, so while all these egg whites are living full and delicious (yet short) lives, the egg yolks are left to wallow in their unfulfilled destinies.

So if you’re anything like me you often have a lot of egg yolks laying around and nothing to do with them. There are plenty of things you make with egg yolks; crème pâtissière, custard, crème brûlée, mayonnaise, hollandaise etc. I wanted something nice and easy that could be eaten by itself (and wouldn’t require a chef’s torch!), and that’s where the mousse came in.

I used a Martha Stewart recipe for this, but slightly adapted as I didn’t have as much cream as I thought I did and I had less chocolate (I was also going for a recipe that I didn’t have to buy anything for, it was 9pm after all). Despite the lack of cream and less chocolate it was still the richest chocolate mousse I have ever eaten, I could only eat a few spoonfuls!

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
300ml double cream
170g dark chocolate (min 60% cocoa solids), melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk the egg yolks, 2 tablespoons sugar and 150 double cream in a medium saucepan. Heat over a medium/low heat, stirring constantly for 3-4 minutes, do not boil. Remove from heat and strain into a bowl. Whisk in melted chocolate and vanilla. You’ll end up with a custardy consistency. Chill until cooled.

With an electric mixer, beat remaining cream and sugar together until stiff peaks form. Stir 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cool custard mixture, and then every gently fold in the rest of the the cream with a rubber spatula.

Spoon into serving dishes, cover and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

And voila! Your egg yolks have new meaning and can die satisfied!

Black Forest Pavlovas

by giraffescanbake // January 6, 2014 // 2 Comments

Yummy single serving meringue desserts from down under!

Happy New Year everybody! I hope this year is your best one yet, I know it’s going to be mine! My first post of 2014 is going to be the dessert I made for Christmas day. It wasn’t actually eaten on Christmas day because I had work and then there were presents and dinner so by the time I finished baking it was 10:30pm! But they were enjoyed on Boxing Day.

Pavlova actually originated in Australia (or possibly New Zealand, I think they still argue over that). There are three good things to come out of Australia, they are: Heath Ledger, Chris Hemsworth and Pavlova. Since Heath Ledger is dead (sad face) and Chris Hemsworth is married, I’ll have to settle for eating pavlova! I actually only discovered that pavlova was Australian fairly recently, it’s always been a very British dessert in my head, probably because we eat it a lot and Eton Mess is basically a smashed up pavlova! This favourite dessert of mine consists of three main ingredients; meringue, fruit and cream. And it is open to so many different variations, you could never get bored with it!

Black Forest, on the other hand, is German. It started with a dessert called Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte in Black Forest, Germany and eventually worked it’s way into my heart as my favourite ever cake! It consists of chocolate, cherries, cream and kirsch (a cherry liquor) and it is divine. If you’re European you no doubt grew up eating it, if you’re not European then you may never have even tried it. If that’s the case, get down to your nearest quality bakery and get something that’s black forest flavoured, you can thank me later!

While Black Forest cake is my favourite cake, pavlova is my favourite dessert. So I have no idea why it took me so long to mix the two together, perhaps I was afraid of too much pleasure at once! Either way, it was a great Christmas present to myself I must say! This is a slightly sobered version of true Black Forest though as I could not find Kirsch for the life of me. I also could not find black cherries (I swear there’s a cherry embargo on me, whenever I try to buy them in any form I can’t), I did managed to find black cherry pie filling though and it actually worked really well even if it was a bit of a cheat!

[recipe title=”Black Forest Single Serving Pavlovas” servings=”12″ time=”Approx 3 hours”]

Ingredients

For the meringue:

8 egg whites
400g granulated sugar
2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping:

500m double cream
2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder
1 can black cherry pie filling
Dark chocolate curls*
Dark chocolate shavings**

* To make chocolate curls, run a clean potato cleaner peeler down the edge of a bar of chocolate.

** To make chocolate shavings, use a microplane or fine grater

To make the meringue

Preheat oven to 220C/430F/Gas 7. Line baking sheets with baking paper.

Separate your eggs and make sure you don’t get any yolk in your egg whites as it will prevent them from foaming up properly. You also need to make sure your equipment is grease free.

Beat your egg whites until stiff. Then slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time and add the vanilla, keep beating at a medium speed until it forms stiff peaks. If you want to test they are stiff enough, turn the bowl upside down, if they stay you’re good! Obviously be careful as you do this in case they’re not stiff enough! Sift the cocoa powder into the raw meringue and gently fold in. You don’t want to fully incorporate the cocoa powder, you want to leave streaks (or not, it’s your life man).

Now you need to get your meringues formed on the baking sheet. Personally, I like to pipe them on, I find I can get them more evenly sized and better circles. Do it however feels easiest for you though. I piped 6 rounds per baking sheet (it makes 12 total), starting in the middle and circling out. Then I use the back of a spoon to create a well in the centre for all the filling to go in. I also use the back of the spoon to rough up the tops, you don’t want them to look piped, pavlova meringue is supposed to have a messy kind of look to it.

Place meringues in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 120C/240F/Gas. Bake for 50 minutes or until meringues are starting to go slightly golden on edges (try not to open the oven if you can help it though). Turn the oven off and leave the meringues in there until the oven has cooled.

To make the filling

Beat the cream with cocoa powder until stiff peaks form. Spoon scream into the middle of the cold meringues. Spoon over the cherry filling and top with the chocolate curls and shavings. Nice and simple.

If you’d like to make your own cherry and sauce mix it’s pretty simple. You need a large jar of morello cherries or even black cherries in kirsch or syrup. Drain the cherries, saving the syrup/kirsch. Set aside the cherries. Heat the syrup in a pan over medium heat and reduce it down to a honey consistency (5-10 minutes). Stir in the cherries and heat for a couple more minutes. Spoon over the top of the cream and meringue. You can also do the the cherries and syrup separately but I prefer mine to be all kinda mushed together! If you’d like to add real kirsch, add it to the syrups are you’re heating it. If using black cherry pie filling, mix a couple tablespoons of kirsch in with it before you spoon it over the meringues.

Enjoy.
[/recipe]

This recipe was adapted from Tanya Zouev’s Black Forest Pavlova with Espresso Cream