Nostaligia-licious Upside-down Pineapple Cake

Ah yes, the good old Upside-down Pineapple Cake. When I started baking this one, I got what seemed to be the same feedback from everyone...

"Ah, no way, that cake reminds me of -

a - My mom"
b - My Gran"
c - My Gran's house"
d - My Gran's house in summer when I used to stuff my fat little face with pineapple cake"

... And if it isn't Gran or mum, it's aunt or great aunt.

Everyone has a place in their hearts - and room in their tummies - for this cake. If I had my own restaurant, which I really hope to have some day, i'd have a mini menu, called "Comfort Food". It would have a half dozen savoury dishes, and a half dozen sweet dishes. This would 100% be one of the sweet dishes.

If Upside-down Pineapple cake were a person, you just know it'd give the best hugs, and tell the silliest jokes.

Ok, back to business...

My recipe for this treaty wonder is super simple, and it includes the classic caramel topping. Also, if you fancied whipping up an upside-down Apple cake, you can use the very same recipe and just sub out your pineapples for some good old granny smiths :-)

The Ingredients:

100g / 4oz margarine

100g / 4oz caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

200g / 8oz plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 medium eggs

100ml milk

1/2 pineapple or tin of rings (not chopped. Rings!) 

50g / 2oz soft brown sugar

The Moozic:
In the spirit of nostalgia, i've been rocking out to Flight Facilities. Treated myself to one of their epics mixes, which takes you through some of the 'whippest' tunes that were born between 1992 and 2002. And they do it chronologically... What more can you ask for? Fantastic stuff.

Try this on for size!

Bits n' Pieces

The Method: 

• Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/ 360°F/ Gas Mark 4
• Grease an 8″ round baking tin
• Cream the margarine, sugar and vanilla essence together using an electric mix (until it's all soft and creamy and lush!)
• Sift in the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
• Add the eggs and milk
• Mix together until smooth, creamy and 'batter like'
• Sprinkle the baking tin with half of the brown sugar
• If you went the au-naturel route, peel and core the pineapple. Slice into thin rings and place half the rings into the baking tin on top of the brown sugar. If you took the lazy route and got a can, you really shouldn't need any direction
• Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar onto the rings after placing them down (check out my pic, it shows you the best way to set the rings - perfect for an 8" tin)
• Chop the remaining pineapple into fine pieces and stir into the batter
• Pour the batter onto the pineapples
• You're good to go! Cook for 40 – 45 minutes or until golden brown and an inserted knife comes out clean
• Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 10 minutes to cool. 10 of the slowest minutes in existence.
• Then gently run a palette knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the cake and turn it onto a cooling tray

Pineapply Goodness!

• Serve that bad boy with warm with double cream or custard
• Leave it to cool completely before putting whatever is left over (if there is anything left!), into the fridge.

Slice me off'a piece-a THAT!

This cake keeps very well, essentially because it is doused in so much sugar. It will keep, and be insanely edible, for up to a week after you bake it. Just make sure it is kept refrigerated.

Happy Baking :-)

B x

Moist-a-licious Walnut, Carrot and Orange Cake

Carrot Cake. One of my all time favourite cakes. I love making this. Nearly as much as I love eating it.

I've baked carrot cake a lot over the last year or so and I have tried a number of recipes. I liked all of them for different reasons, but failed to find one that ticked all the boxes - moistness, devilish cream cheese topping, spicey flavour, fluffy but rich texture - so, I went and designed my own recipe.

"Here's one I prepared earlier" ;-)

There is nothing like a perfectly baked, slice of moist and flavoursome carrot cake. I love to have mine with a yummy cup of peppermint tea.

The Ingredients:

Cake mix -
175g light muscovado sugar
175ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs (lightly beaten)
140g grated carrots (about 3 medium ones will do!)
100g raisins
Grated zest of 1 large orange
175g self-raising flour
1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (freshly grated will give you the best flavour)
1 bag of whole walnut halves

Icing mix -
200g soft cheese (one standard sized tub of Philadelphia Cream Cheese does the job well) 

50g butter, softened

85g icing sugar, sifted

Pinch of ground cinnamon

The juice of half of 1 large orange

The Moozic:
The Morning Benders, Big Echo

A great sound to bake to, this will have you sauntering about the kitchen. You can check out my own little review of the album on my other blog, here

The Method:

For the cake...

• Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C
• Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment. I find the easiest way to do this is to cut two long strips the width of the tin and layer each strip crossways, covering the base and sides of the tin
• Tip the sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon
• Stir in the grated carrots, raisins and orange rind
• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, into the bowl. Mix!
• Lightly mix all the ingredients - until everything is evenly mixed. The texture should be fairly soft and almost runny
• Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre
• Cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool that bad boy on a wire rack

The look of concentration...

For zee icing...

• God I love this part... With an electric whisk, beat together the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and cinnamon until smooth
• Add in the orange juice and continue whisking, but only until it looks mixed in - you don't want to over-mix 
• Spread over the top of the cake with a tool similar to the one I am rocking in the picture above
• Decorate with walnut halves. You can do this whatever way you want but for ease of slicing, the way I have done mine works well
• When this is done, take the the other half of the orange you squeezed for the icing, and grate/sprinkle some zest over the cake.

Aaaaaand done! :-)

B x

Guilt Free Oatie Banana, Nut and Fruit Cookies

Cookies. They are awesome. If you don't like cookies, leave this page now, and never return. There is nothing here for you. You heard! Go!

Now that those silly divils are gone, I can tell you all about my latest cookie discovery. Yes, the title sums it up nicely, this cookie recipe IS guilt free.

"Guilt free cookies? That's a load of bollocks, Becca", is the jist of what most people say when I try to tell them about these little gems.

"Errrhh muhrrr Guurrddd veeze ahhrre Delllisuss", is the jist of what most people say when they are tasting these nommy, nutty, oatie, fruity flavour-packed yums.

Other than the small amount of oil, and the sprinkling of Maple syrup (which is optional by the way), these cookies are very clean. They contain NO flour, sugar or butter and only the smallest quantity of salt.

Food for the heart

The Ingredients:

260g of uncooked oats (I use Flahavans Irish organic jumbo oats)
*130g of chopped walnuts
**130g of uncooked raisins or sultanas (make sure they are not coated in sugar/preservatives)
1/2 a teaspoon of salt
3x medium sized bananas
70mls of vegetable oil (or sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Organic maple syrup for some drizzley squizzley fun

*You can of course substitute walnuts for other nuts if you wish. I'd recommend almonds, golden linseeds, or if you are feeling crazy, a mix of all three. Just make sure they stay within 130g.

**Again, you can substitute here too. I sometimes like to mix it up with dried cranberries, strawberries or blueberries. Make sure you stay within the 130g. Also, make sure you use dried fruit as opposed to fresh fruit, otherwise the cookies will be far too moist and will effect the bake,  preventing them from setting. Result: Big squidgey mess.

Cookies near complete; Dry mix

The Method:

• Wash your hands, for the love of God, wash your bloody hands.
• Place baking paper onto a flat baking tray.
• Pre-heat your oven to 175º or gas mark 4.
• Combine the first four ingredients (your dry ingredients) in a large bowl; stir well.
• Peel and chop your bananas and place into a separate bowl and - here's the fun part - mash them up with your hands. You could use a fork but it will take longer and it is not nearly as much fun :-). Mash them up so that the consistency is even and liquidy; some little lumps are OK.
• Measure your oil in a jug and combine with the banana, along with your vanilla essence. Stir well
• Add the banana mixture to your dry ingredients, stirring with a wooden spoon (less stick issues) to combine.
•  Let the mix stand for no longer than 15 minutes. Any longer and, because you have moisture sucking jumbo oats in your mix, it will start to dry up.
• Get a spatula and chopping board ready.... (this is purely for technique in shaping the cookies)
• Pick up small handfuls of the mix with your hands and roll/patt into flat ball shapes, but don't handle too much. Place the ball on the cutting board and use the spatula to squash down (gently, not too much) and flip the dough so that you are left with a slightly chunky cookie shape (see my pics for an idea - even flatter would be recommended so they are not too dry in the centre)
• Repeat until all the dough has been formed into cookie shapes. I make big ones, so I usually get about 12 cookies from the mix.
• Take your maple syrup and drizzle a very small amount over each cookie. This will give them a really nice, subtle sweet flavour. It goes perfectly with the flavouring of the baked fruit and nuts.
• Place those beauties in the oven and Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. I usually flip them after about 10 minutes.
• Transfer cookies to wire racks for cooling

Done!

Nom :-)

These cookies are great to have in the fridge as a snack, and what's more is they keep for about a week, and they freeze very well. They are ideal as an on-the-go breakfast snack in the morning. If ever I have an pre-work gym visit or an early flight to catch, and am up at a silly hour, I always take one with me in my bag. It is nearly as good as the king of brekkies, a small bowl of porridge and fruit, and MUCH better than about 95% of the rubbish cereals you see along the supermarket aisles these days. They are also great as a late afternoon pre evening gym snack, as they provide a small balanced serving of complex carbs to give you the right kind of low GI energy boost you sometimes need at that time of day.

I am really proud of this recipe, as I kind of made it up from scratch when I wanted something yummy to snack on, minus the guilt. Hope you enjoy trying it out.

B x

Yummy "Pimpable" Brown Bread

Bread.

To put it simply, I love bread. I love it a lot. I love the smell of it baking in the oven, I also love the smell of it being heated up and browned in a toaster. I love the feeling of cutting through a freshly baked loaf (especially if it has a thick, crispy crust). I love using it to mop up whatever is left in my soup bowl, or my dinner plate after I chow down.

I love bread, dammit.

Moving on...

When it comes to baking bread, I would consider myself an amateur. But one thing I reckon I have mastered is how to make a delicious, healthy, nutty (and fruity if you like that kind of thing) proper brown bread.

This recipe is a handy one, and here's why...

1. It takes very little time to prep
2. It is easy to remember and straight forward to follow
3. You can easily pimp the base recipe up, by adding seeds, nuts or fruit, if you fancy! Hence the name...

The Ingredients:
1lb of Wholemeal Flour (I use Stoneground extra coarse flour)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of breadsoda
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
500 ml of milk (I use soya milk or walnut milk because I am a lactose intolerant geek)

Optional - selection of seeds, nuts, fruit. I like to use poppy seeds, linseeds, crushed walnuts and orange sultanas.

The Method:

• Set your oven to 200º (or gas mark 6 for those of you with "vintage" cookers ;-))
• Use butter to grease up a loaf tin, and make sure you get all the edges so as to avoid any "stickage". Set it aside
• Mix together your flour, sugar, salt and breadsoda in a bowl. 
• Add together the milk, olive oil and red wind vinegar in a measuring jug and, using a non-metal spoon, add to the dry ingredients, mixing well
• Optional - Mix in 40g of your choice of nuts and 40g of your choice of fruit
• Pour the entire mix into your greased up loaf tin and sprinkle the top with a small amount of your nut/seed mix (about 10g)
• Pat down the topping with a wooden spoon, but not too much that it sinks into the mix
• Take the handle end of a fork and drag it down the middle - Lengthways - of the bread, as if you were cutting it in half. Needless to say, the mix is in liquid form, so you might think this is pointless, but it isn't. It will help to even out the mix and ensure it rises nicely
• Bake in the centre of the oven for one hour.
• When it's cooked, remove your bread from the oven and leave it to cool for about 5 minutes, before taking it out of the tin to cool completely on a wire tray. 

A tip - if you're not sure of the best way to extract the bread from the tin, take a tea towel and wrap it over the top of the tin. Turn the tin upside-down and give it a little shake to loosen the bread (if necessary). Ease the bread out and into the tea towel, then flip it back onto the wire tray to cool

Et Voila..!

Like it sweet? Bake the fruit and nut option, and have it with chopped banana and a dollop of apricot jam (Bonne Maman is my fave), or peanut butter.

Like it savoury? Bake with nuts and seeds only, and have toasted with scrambled or poached egg, avocado and feta cheese, with some rocket.

NOM!

Keep an eye out for lots more yummy bread recipes :-)

Becca x

PS. Perfect to listen to whilst getting your brown bread bake on? Van Morrison's 'Into the Music'. Number one track on the album had me giving it socks around the kitchen -

I Like to Bake it, Bake it

Last week, as part of some research for a client of mine in work, I was spending some time familiarising myself with a variety of Mummy/Parenting blogs.

Whilst at the height of my perusing I noticed that a lot of these blogs had dedicated sections for cooking/baking tips, recipes and what-not. Some weren’t great... Some were brilliant. I started thinking about how, if I had a blog dedicated to food, I would do it this or that way, etc. I'd focus on this and I'd write about that, etc. I found myself nosing through more blogs, but this time it was mainly dedicated food blogs. I realised that I had basically mapped out a foundation for my own food blog (yes, there was even a little illustration!) without the intention of really doing so at all. 

I then thought to myself, "why don’t I do this myself?!". I love food. I adore it, in fact. It is one of  two of my favourite consumable things on the planet. I make food all of the time. In particular, I love to bake, and find it incredibly therapeutic. I enjoy learning about food, and nothing really beats eating it, in my books. Especially if you do so in the company of good people, and good wine. Preferably red wine. Red, red wine.

Eventually, I’d like to own my own restaurant, or do something professionally that involves food – so I think this could be a good way to really keep track of what I cook and bake, what inspires me about food, and how I am progressing in terms of the skill itself. 

Also, this way I get to share my recipes, which is nice.

Sharing is indeed caring, after all.

Why the name "Baby got Bake", you ask? Simple really. I am a girl that likes to bake and I have a big bum :-)

I hope whoever finds themselves reading this blog, enjoys it even half as much as I know I will writing it.

Watch this space for my nommy (and slightly odd) recipes!

Re-Bake-ah x