White Chocolate Pannacotta with Raspberry Coulis

This is one of my favourite ever desserts. It sounds and looks way more complicated than it actually is and I was put off making it for ages because of the gelatine in it, but if you can overcome that- make these!

Ingredients
For the Pannacotta
500ml double cream
150ml milk
100g white chocolate
4 sheets gelatine
25g sugar


For the coulis and decoration
1 packet of raspberries
sugar
+ extra raspberries for decoration


Method

1. Heat cream and milk until it is almost simmering then turn the heat down low and add the sugar and chocolate, stirring (you can add vanilla here if you like, too)
2. Soak the gelatine in a bowl of warm water till it is soft (it almost looks like it has disappeared- but it hasn't!) then, by hand, take each sheet out of the water, squeezing out excess water and stir them into the mixture
3. Take off the heat and stir until completely smooth
4. Leave for a few minutes to cool then pour into ramekins and put into the fridge for a minimum of 5 hours
5. The coulis is really easy to make; either blend or break up the raspberries with a fork and add just enough sugar to take away the tartness of the raspberries

When the coulis are set and you are ready to serve, place the ramekins in warm water and loosen with a knife if needed. I think they look best with coulis served round the bottom and a few whole raspberries and a mint leaf on top.

Enjoy! x

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

The Hummingbird Bakery is my sisters ultimate favourite bakery. She has the cookbooks and made these amazing brownies once before and loved them so I decided to make a 21 out of them for her 21st birthday! They turned out really well, I made about 3 batches, using loaf tins to get smaller, longer brownies rather than the big trays most people would make!
The recipe I have included is for one batch, as it makes more than enough for an average batch!

Brownie ingredients:

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

200g unsalted butter

250g icing sugar

3 eggs

110g plain flour

Cheesecake ingredients:

400g cream cheese
150g icing sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Cream topping

300 ml whipping cream
100g icing sugar

150g raspberries, plus extra to decorate

33 x 23 x 5-cm baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper

• Method

For the brownie: 

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.
2. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth. 
3. Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated. 
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. 
5. Gradually beat in the flour, mixing well after each addition, then turn the mixer up to high speed and beat for a little longer until you get a smooth mixture. 
6. Slowly pour in the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared baking tray and smooth over with a palette knife.

For the cheesecake: 

1. Put the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on slow speed until smooth and thick. Add one egg at a time, while still mixing. Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. The mixture should be very smooth and creamy.
2. The mixer can be turned up to a higher speed at the end to make the mix a little lighter and fluffier, but be careful not to overmix, otherwise the cheese will split. Spoon on top of the brownie and smooth over with a palette knife. 
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30–40 minutes, or until the cheesecake is firm to the touch and light golden around the edges. The centre should still be pale. Leave to cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight if possible.

For the cream topping:

1. Put the cream, sugar and raspberries in a freestanding electric mixer with a whisk attachment and beat until firm but not stiff.
2. Turn the brownie out onto a board and turn the right way up.
3. Spread the topping evenly over the brownie and decorate with more raspberries.

Enjoy! x

This recipe is taken from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf and The Hummingbird Bakers

Mario Galaxy Luigi Birthday Cake

This cake I made as a 4th birthday present to my best friends nephew. I wont post the recipe, as it really was just a double layer chocolate cake which I found in a recipe book at home. The icing took me a long time but I did it over a few days; sitting with a laptop for the pictures of mario galaxy and all my icing colours! I was so pleased with it for my first 'professional' looking cake, and he loved it!

Round the outside and lots of goomba's coins, rockets etc etc and the stars are held up by wire from an art shop!

I get all of my baking supplies from Cake Craft World- its pretty good :)

Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I would never eat carrot cake when I was little because I hated the idea of a vegetable cake, but then I discovered the amazingness that is cream cheese frosting and decided to try one out- its good! I made them in cupcake form first, but it seems to work better as a proper cake. The thing which makes this carrot cake better than other recipe's you might find is that as soon as you take it out of the oven, you prick the top all over and feed the cake with lemon juice mixed with a little icing sugar. This gives it a sort of second topping, under the frosting which seems to work really well! Also, this is the only cake I ever use oil rather than butter, but I guess thats another factor which makes carrot cake a 'healthy cake'.


Ingredients
240g grated carrot
80g desiccated coconut
80g toasted walnuts (chopped coarsely)
240g self-raising flour
1/4tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
180ml sunflower oil
200g castor sugar 
+ Juice of half a lemon mixed with icing sugar


For the Cream Cheese Frosting
60g butter (soft)
120g light cream cheese
60g icing sugar
1tsp grated lemon rind


Method
(preheat oven to 170°C)
1. Sift the flour with baking powder and soda into a large mixing bowl with the caster sugar
2. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add the vanilla essence
3. Beat the egg mix into the flour and stir in the coconut and carrots, followed by cooking oil and walnuts
4. Pour mixture into a greased bake tin and bake in the middle shelf for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean
5. When you take the cake out of the oven, leave it to stand for 30 seconds before pricking the top all over with a knife and pouring over the lemon juice mix, making sure it all gets soaked in
6. Leave to fully cool


Frosting
1. Beat cream cheese and butter on a low speed setting until well blended
2. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar and blend until smooth
3. Finally, add the lemon rind


You can ice the cake however you like and put on decorations as you wish, I think it looks lovely with a pile of frosting on top, an inch away from the edges, then sprinkling crushed walnuts over the top.


Enjoy! x

My first post!

So i've been wanting to make this blog for a long time and because of this, i may well post recipes and photos i made a long time ago to backlog all the recipes i want to remember!

I go through phases of being obsessed with cooking different kinds of food, last year I went through a canapé obsession but at the moment, it's cakes!

Hope you enjoy! Emily x