Punctuation Blogging

Hi!

If anyone is still reading this blog, hello! As I said in my last post, I've been working on a new project. By project, I basically mean a new blog, on a different website, with a new, broad name (an obsolete/underrated punctuation mark).

I like my new blog, and I hope that I'll be able to update it more now that essays are over and my exams finish in a few weeks! 

If you want to know what I'm up to, what I've been doing, baking, seeing and making, please head over to www.interrobangblog.com and have a look!

I would love to know if anyone goes there to read from The Stylish Baker, so please feel free to leave a comment or email me!

Thank you for reading this!

Updates and a Poor Explanation

Hi!

It's been a while, hasn't it? 

So... You're probably wondering why I haven't posted anything on here since November (oops). Or you've just stumbled across this blog and are like 'wtf I didn't even know you'd left'. Either way, you're going to get a kind of excuses-filled explanation for my lack of content and posting.

Looking back at this blog, I am really, really proud of it. I created it, I made it, I put a lot of effort and time into it, and I really like what I've made. My photography, baking and writing skills have all improved loads through this blog, and I have had a lovely time with it.

However, I don't know whether this is the right place for me any more. I love this blog, but for the time being, I don't want to post on it. I haven't had the energy or motivation to write on here for a while now (evidently!) and I don't want to force myself into posting because I feel like I have to. 

Instead, I'm starting a new project. One that will hopefully become something I'm as proud of as I am this blog, and something that will keep me motivated and excited. When I've created enough content to spread it into the world, I will let any readers of this blog know where my new internet home is.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have creating it! Maybe I will come back here in a few months, but for now it just isn't right.

Thank you for reading! <3

Baked Raspberry Ripple New York Cheesecake

Two posts within days of each other?! Can this be real? Yes, mainly because I've been at home and so had access to a kitchen and abundant cooking supplies. It's been amazing. I came home to about 5 packs of Philadelphia my mum had bought for making a red velvet cake which never materialised, so I decided a cheesecake would be a good way to use it all up! I was correct (said cheesecake was demolished within a day of me letting my dad near it).

I've seen a lot of raspberry cheesecakes knocking about on instagram recently, and it made me really want to create my own! I wasn't quite sure how to go about it, so I just made a basic vanilla cheesecake and my own improvised version of raspberry puree. I bought frozen raspberries for the puree, and didn't really think about defrosting them until I needed to make the puree. I didn't defrost them, and it turned out fine! This cheesecake is creamy, thick and decadent, but the raspberry cuts through the sweetness to ensure it isn't overpowering - the best combination!

The recipe is adapted from Nigel Slater's Baked Lemon and Vanilla Cheesecake in his 'Real Food' book.

Recipe (serves 8-10):

• 250g digestives
• 90g butter, melted
• 500g full fat cream cheese
• 250g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 165ml double cream
• 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 150oC, and grease a 23cm springform tin.
2. Smash the digestives into small crumbs by placing them in a plastic bag and bashing them with a rolling pin.
3. Mix the digestives and the butter, and flatten into the prepared tin. Put in the fridge while preparing the cheesecake.
4. Beat the cream cheese and the sugar together until thick and creamy.
5. Beat the eggs in, one at a time, until well combined.
6. Pour in the cream.
7. Mix in the vanilla extract.
8. Pour the mixture into the tin.
9. Blend the raspberries with 1tbsp of icing sugar (and some water if frozen) until smooth.
10. Lightly dot the raspberry mixture around the top of the cheesecake mixture (you will not use all of the puree).
11. Swirl the dots into the cake with a skewer, and decorate with a few raspberries if desired.
12. Cook in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the cheesecake is lightly golden and slightly wobbly in the centre.
13. Leave to cool (and refrigerate overnight if possible).

Chocolate Birthday Cake

Hi! It's been a while. Even though I promised it wouldn't be. Then again, I think we've realised through the duration of this blog that my blogging promises mean very little. Ah well. I had a birthday! I turned 19!! I feel old. 19 isn't very old, but it's the last year I can call myself a 'teenager', and 20 sounds very old and grown-up, which I'm not ready to be. At least I've got another year to get my head around it before I actually turn 20! Anyway, this cake - I wanted something big, cool, and calorific for my 19th, so I decided to make a 5-layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, marshmallow icing and Katherine Sabbath-inspired decorations.

The first step consisted of making the chocolate bark. I melted some dairy milk, spread it out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, mixed some melted white chocolate with pink food colouring and dolloped that on, sprinkled on some 'eton mess' mix I found in sainsbury's (basically small bits of meringue and dried raspberries), and put it in the fridge. Very simple.

After the bark was made, I moved onto the cake. Some may say this is the best part. I'm inclined to agree. I baked 5 layers (well, 6, but I dropped one...) of moist, dense chocolate cake, and left it overnight to settle. It makes it a lot less crumbly and much easier to work with when it's been allowed time to set!

I sandwiched the layers together with chocolate frosting, one of the most amazing substances ever to be invented. I ate half of the mix before it even made its way to the cake.

For the outside of the cake, I used Primrose Bakery's marshmallow icing recipe. The quantity was just enough to cover the cake, but it really could have done with a bit more (oops). I smashed into the chocolate bark with a knife to create shard-like blocks, and stuck them into the cake with maltesers propping them up - any excuse to put more maltesers on a cake! I decorated the outside with a ring of maltesers, and then threw 100s & 1000s around the base. Finally, lashings of edible glitter were added as the finishing touches. 

I then promptly dropped something into the front of the cake, leaving a dent and a quick patching up exercise. I managed to do this before photos were taken on the good camera, hence the number of side shots and iPhone photos. That was a lot of birthday drama! I think the rubber duck candles more than make up for the ruined icing though!

Recipe - makes enough for a good three days of cake-eating/serves at least 10:

Cake - per 2 layers:

• 6oz caster/soft brown sugar
• 6oz butter
• 3 eggs
• 4.5oz self-raising flour
• 1.5oz cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180oC. Grease and line two 8" cake tins.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy.
3. Beat the eggs in, one at a time, until well combined. Don't worry if the mixtures curdles, it will all be rectified with the addition of flour.
4. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
5. Fold it in gently, until all incorporated.
6. Halve the mixture between the two baking tins.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the a knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
8. Leave to cool, preferable overnight if you want to have a crumb-free icing experience.

Chocolate buttercream - I never weigh out my icing measurements because I prefer just to add things until I get the right consistency, but here is my mum's icing recipe (which is basically the exact same one I use!)

Enough to fill 5 layers of cake:

• 400-450g icing sugar
• 75g cocoa powder
• 100g soft butter
• 3-4 tablespoons milk to mix

1. Sift 400g icing sugar and the cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl. 
2. Add the butter and two tablespoons of milk. 
3. Mix well with a large spoon or electric whisk, adding more milk if necessary to make a soft, smooth, spreadable buttercream. 
4. Taste and adjust the flavour, adding more sifted icing sugar and/or cocoa powder if needed.

Marshmallow icing:

• 120g granulated sugar
• 80g golden syrup
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Food colouring of choice.

1. In a large saucepan, heat sugar, golden syrup and water on a high heat until it reaches soft ball stage (the mixture, when a small amount is dropped in cool water, should ball together to form a squishy, not hard ball).
2. Beat egg whites until they form soft peaks when the beater is removed.
3. Slowly whisk the sugar mixture into the egg whites.
4. Continue beating until thick and smooth.
5. Beat in the vanilla.
6. Add food colouring, until desired concentration has been reached.

Billington's #BakeFace Brownies

I'm alive!! Sorry for the massive lack of posts recently, but settling into life as a university student takes a bit of time, plus there's not all that much time left over for baking (sadly). Also, I left my camera at home so it's iPhone pics all the way!

Anyway, to the point - brownies. More specifically, Billington's brownies. If you follow me on instagram (which you totally should, click here), then you may have seen me post about these a little bit. Billington's, together with Baking Mad, are running a #BakeFace competition to win some cool prizes, and all you need to do to enter is submit a photo here of your best #BakeFace!

Now to what's most important - the food itself. These brownies were made according to the Billington's recipe, and they were pretty different to other brownies I've made (see here, and here, and here, aaaand here - I love brownies ok don't judge). The recipe calls for 350g of dark chocolate, which is a heck of a lot, especially when you're a student whose baking chocolate stocks are severely limited. However, it's worth it - the end result is dense, chocolately gooeyness which led me to eat about half the pan before remembering I had a Baking Society meeting later in the day which I was meant to take the brownies to...

The use of dark muscovado sugar definitely made this richer than other recipes, and the texture was just so good. Once I've saved up enough money to stock up on cooking chocolate, I'll be making these again - perfect comfort food for the dark days, after all: winter is coming.

Last but not least, I would be very grateful if you could please vote for me in this competition! I really want to own a mug with my face on! 

Please click here to vote!

DISCLAIMER: For this post I did receive a small hamper of baking goods from a PR company, but this has not affected my opinion at all - these brownies are damn good and I do really want a mug with my face on!