After Eight Tart

Continuing with the ridiculously easy but suitably decadent recipes, I recently opted to dig out a recipe that I got from an old fundraising cookbook that I think was sold to raise money for either my primary or secondary school. With only four ingredients, the After Eight Tart really can’t go wrong!

As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. If that’s the case, my most recent attempt at this recipe definitely got my seal of approval. After treating my other half to a slice and dishing it up for a friend who came round for dinner earlier in the week, there was still a full quarter of the tart left. Unfortunately my intention to share the remaining tart with my neighbours was soon forgotten as I ended up devouring the entire slab myself!

Ingredients
150g digestives
75g butter, melted
300g box After Eights, or alternative mint-filled chocolates
150ml double cream
Milk and white chocolate to decorate

Method
1. Crush the digestives in a food processor (or place them in a food bag and beat them with something heavy!) and mix with the melted butter in a large bowl. Press into an 8 inch greased flan tin and place in the fridge while you make the topping.
2. Melt the whole box of After Eights in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Once melted, add the cream and stir until combined.
3. Pour over the biscuit base and leave to set in the fridge overnight.
4. Once set, grate equal amounts of milk and white chocolate over the top to decorate.

Applewood smoked cheddar scones

After months of disinterest and general lack of time, it seems that the baking bug has finally taken hold again. Fortunately it has reappeared at the same time as my love of all things smoked which resulted in an impressive craving for applewood smoked cheddar scones.

Delia to the rescue! I whipped up a quick batch (with double the amount of cheese recommended in Delia’s cheese scone recipe) on Sunday morning before heading out to Stirling to visit Malcolm’s gran. Not quite your typical Easter baking but they definitely satiated my craving!

Rolo slice

I’ve kind of neglected my blog of late but those who have seen me will realise why: I’m sporting an increasingly large baby bump and priorities (as well as my ability to bake) have changed.

Unfortunately the only time I seem to manifest symptoms of the “baby brain” phenomenon is when I’m in the kitchen. This has lead to me to forget a multitude of ingredients! A while back I ended up baking a lemon tart with no sugar in the filling (I only realised when I was packing it up to take to a friend’s house for dinner!). I’ve also made a pear tart with savoury instead of sweet pastry and have I accidentally omitted ingredients in many dinner time recipes.

I promise it’s not on purpose but my other half has now banned me from most of the cooking for fear that I forget an essential ingredient!

So when the opportunity to get involved in the newly renamed Edinburgh Bakers‘ Towers of Terrific Traybakes Take Two event came up, I jumped at the chance. It had been years since I’d made a traybake and how could it possibly go wrong? The answer is that it didn’t! Thank goodness.

I chose to recreate a recipe that one of my colleagues from the MS Society had introduced me to when I was working there: Rolo slice. It’s sweet, decadent and chocolatey, everything a traybake should be! Using a mere 9 packets of Rolos, the recipe is also (NOT) low calorie!! Nevertheless it got devoured!

I didn’t take my camera with me to the event but for more pictures of all the fabulous tray bakes check out the Edinburgh Bakers‘ blog.

Update
I’ve been asked for the recipe for Rolo slice by a few people so here goes:

Ingredients
225g margarine
300g milk chocolate, plus 300g milk chocolate for the topping
6 tbsp Golden Syrup
450g Rolos (9-10 packets)
450g digestive biscuits, crushed

Method

1. Melt the margarine, 300g of the milk chocolate and the syrup in a heavy pan over a medium heat.  Keep stirring to ensure that it doesn’t stick or burn.
2. Add the biscuits and Rolos and stir through.
3. Press into 3 greased 20cm (8 inch) cake tins and chill in the fridge.
4. Meanwhile, melt the remaining 300g of milk chocolate and spread evenly over the top of the three traybakes.
5. Chill and slice into 8 slices each. Stack on top of each other as if creating a tower of terrific traybakes to serve!

Apple chutney and soda bread

Autumn is here and apples are in season so I’ve written a recipe for apple chutney and soda bread for the Broughton Spurtle. Check out the full recipe here.

Fig tarte tatin

I’ve written a recipe for fig tarte tatin for the Broughton Spurtle.  Check out the full recipe here.

Blueberry and raspberry roulade

I’ve written a recipe for blueberry and raspberry roulade for the Broughton Spurtle.  Check out the full recipe here.

Picnicking on the Harry Potter Train

Holidaying in Scotland can be unpredictable so when me and my friend Grainne finally booked the trip on the Harry Potter Train (otherwise known as the Jacobite Train) that we’d been planning since university, I decided not to leave things to chance and ordered a spectacular picnic lunch from the lovely Wendy at Inside Out Chef.

From the off, Wendy knew exactly what I was after: nothing short of a banquet in picnic form!  Given the news that one of the diners was pescetarian, one didn’t like sponge cakes and everyone loved cheese, Wendy came up with the menu below.  She even lent us a coolbox which we could plug into the car to keep everything cool on our journey to Fort William and an impressively pristine vintage picnic set to use if the weather allowed.

Harry potter train picnic Menu

Tuna, carrot and balsamic vinegar sandwiches

Red onion tart

Cheese platter with 4 different Scottish cheeses, crackers, homemade banana chutney and fruit

Cheese and dill scones

Strawberry crumb cakes

Strawberries with chocolate dip

The gorgeous vintage picnic set that we borrowed from Wendy for the weekend. Unfortunately, because of the rain and the cold we didn’t get a chance to use it.

Unfortunately in the haze of rain and excitement, I forgot to take photos of the delights of the picnic but I can assure you that Wendy had thought of everything: knives for the scones, forks for the strawberries and chocolate, napkins, printed menus, tea and coffee, labels on everything… If I had prepared the picnic, we’d have been lucky to get enough food for everyone, nevermind cutlery and napkins!

If only we could dine like this every day!

A wee extra: a selection of scones and banana loaf to keep us going on the journey.

Finally the time came to tuck in! The weather may have been shocking but we set up camp on a table in the train and enjoyed a lunch fit for a king!

Finished in style: fresh strawberries and chocolate dip!

And finally, here she is: the Harry Potter Train (aka The Jacobite). What a beauty!

Unfortunately, this was our view from the train for most of the journey. The picnic certainly made up for it!

A huge thank you to Wendy for preparing our picnic. It made all the difference to a dull and dreich day in Fort William!

Wendy also provides afternoon teas, freezer fills and luxury hampers.  For more information check out her website www.insideoutchef.com.

Courgette and goat’s cheese bread

I’ve written a recipe for courgette and goat’s cheese bread for the Broughton Spurtle.  Check out the full recipe here.

Getting Fruity with the Edinburgh Cake Ladies

As I mentioned in my previous post about my little cake accident, I was lucky enough to attend another Edinburgh Cake Ladies event last week.  After missing out on the event in May because of work, I was delighted to get baking again for the event at Craigie’s Farm.  Unfortunately, a venue surrounded by fields of ripening summer fruits and multiple prayers for sunshine couldn’t save us from the dreary conditions that we have now come to call “summer”.  But what did the weather matter when cake is involved?!

There were enough vibrant colours, fruity aromas and of course massive cakes in the room that I’m sure no one even glanced outside!

A last minute stand in with a wealth of fruit: Victoria’s Swedish berry cake

A mother and son effort: Wendy and Ross’ sponge with strawberries

My husbands favourite from the night: Alison’s chocolate fruit surprise

Strawberries and meringues in a cake: Hannah’s Eton mess

You can’t go wrong with a crumble topping on a cake: Lucy’s blackcurrant streusel cake

Bringing summer to the table: Shauna’s summer celebration cake

A divine combination of flavours: Allison’s orange cheesecake with strawberry and elderflower jelly

Stealing the show: Lea’s Carmen Miranda psycho pineapple chocolate celebration cake

Newcomer Mairi’s raspberry and apricot ripple cake

Lou’s raspberry and white chocolate cake: the photo does not do this cake justice! It was both huge and delicious!

Classic combinations: Lynne’s raspberry torte

Berry delight: Lizzie’s fruit drizzle cake

A welcome taste of citrus: Chiara’s lemon polenta cake

My first plate of cake…and certainly not my last!

I’ll definitely be heading back to Craigie’s in the near future, not only to sample some of their own cakes in the cafe but also to make the most of their pick your own fruit fields.  With strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries available at the moment, I can feel a bit of jam-making coming on!

Edinburgh Cake Ladies cake accident

Last night I was lucky enough to attend another gathering of the Edinburgh Cake Ladies at Craigie’s Farm. I’ll be writing a post with all the photos later tonight but wanted to share my misfortune just now.

My St Clement’s cake has been the subject of many issues over the last few days. When making the cakes on Monday night, I accidentally dropped a bit of egg shell into the mixer while it was on. Instead of turning the mixers off straight away I panicked and turned the dial to full speed, spreading tiny bits of egg shell throughout the mixture. Time to start again!

Then on Tuesday night I got a tad distracted while making sugar coated oranges and lemons to decorate the cake which resulted in some very sad, slightly caramelised citrus fruits! Time to improvise!

But after two evenings (and a few challenges) my cake was ready to go. With the orange and lemon cakes sandwiched together with lemon curd, orange curd and mascapone cream, it was finally complete. Off to Craigie’s we went!

The cake was devoured with only one slice remaining at the end of the night. In a haze of other people’s stunning cakes I completely forgot about taking my own cake home and had already filled my Tupperware with other people’s delicious cakes. The remains of my cake would have to survive on the front seat of my car without Tupperware protection…which of course it didn’t!

I may have braked a little suddenly at a junction on the way home!  Let’s just say I had to do a bit of unexpected cleaning last night!