RECIPE: Madeira loaf, lemon curd and blueberry trifle pots

A recipe for lemon curd and blueberry trifles made with low-fat quark cream cheese

Madeira loaf, lemon curd and
blueberry trifle pots

The Queen is 90 this year - three cheers for Her Majesty! I'll tell you who else has turned 90 this year, Sir David Attenborough. As wildlife and nature are my biggest passions after food and eating, David has been one of my all time heroes since I was a kid. And so, I'd like to dedicate this bake to both of these elderly but mighty great British institutions. 

The Queen is celebrating with a big bash today - The Patron's Lunch. The Mall in St James’s Park has been transformed for its largest ever street party, to celebrate Her Majesty's patronage of over 600 charities and organisations.

There'll be many more parties happening up and down the country, and Stork intend to provide the best baking inspiration for them.

As part of that, they got in touch with a few bakers to come up with fitting recipes for the occasion, to share on the Stork website. My brief, trifle! 

Now I'll be honest, I've never been much of a trifle fan. I don't like things with too much cream, and I really don't like jelly. So I took this as a great opportunity to come up with something that would appeal to all, even those who think they might not like trifle. 

Meaning “curd” in Slavic, quark is a soft, white and un-aged cheese made from whey. It has a much lower fat content than other cream cheeses (99.8% fat-free) and is popular in Scandanavia and Eastern Europe. Where a dish requires a voluptuous creaminess, I often use quark in place of higher fat alternatives, such as in this beetroot and quark dip. It both cooks well and is also excellent used in desserts. Best of all, you'll find it in all the standard supermarkets.

Quark sweetened with lemon curd makes up the white layer, and the rest is Madeira cake, more lemon curd, and blueberries. What you end up with is a clean, light, and refreshing trifle, that contains a lot less fat than its classic counterparts. 

This really is a great recipe, even if I do say so. I looked so forward to scoffing these every evening until my portions ran out. I'll definitely be rustling these up again.

stages of making the Madeira loaf, lemon curd and  blueberry trifle pots
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What I've done is use Stork with Butter to make the Madeira loaf, and used cut up slices of that as the layers between the quark mix and lemon curd. This is the link to the step-by-step recipe on the Stork website for you to follow at home. I've been a long time fan of using Stork when baking sponges - it's a versatile ingredient, and the fact it can be used straight from the fridge is always a bonus. 

Here's the link to my Madeira loaf, lemon curd and blueberry trifle recipe for you to try at home. If you do, the lovely folk over at Stork would love to see how it went. You can share your trifles on Instagram tagging @bakewithstork, Twitter tagging @bakewithstork, or Facebook tagging the /bakewithstork page. And tag me as well please - I'd love to see too. And feel free to leave a comment below, letting us know how it went - I'd love to know what you think!

This is a sponsored post, in partnership with Stork, as part of a street party campaign to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday and The Patron's Lunch. I hope you get to try this recipe - it's a corker! 

Related links
RECIPE: 'The Elvis' sandwich peanut butter, banana and bacon mini cakes
RECIPE: Easter Chick Cupcakes with Stork

RECIPE: 'The Elvis' sandwich peanut butter, banana and bacon mini cakes

A recipe for mini cakes based on 'The Elvis' sandwich

'The Elvis' sandwich peanut butter,
banana and bacon mini cakes

All hail America and their weird and wonderful flavour combinations. Bacon with maple syrup, chicken and waffles, peanut butter and jelly (or jam, as we in Blighty like to call it).

And from America, we have none other than The King himself to thank - Elvis Presley - for introducing the world to the awesome combination of peanut butter, banana and bacon. It's no secret most things are improved with bacon, and this particularly holds true when peanut butter is involved.

The history behind this infamous sandwich, now universally referred to simply as 'The Elvis', is that old snake hips himself was well acquainted with fanciful food cravings. There have been many articles written about his creative culinary tastes, and his love of peanut butter and banana sandwiches with crisp bacon is well reported, even by his mother, Gladys Presley.

So when Stork approached me to come up with a cake recipe that included bananas to coincide with the London Marathon (bananas for energy, see), and wanting to steer away from well worn banana breads, The Elvis came to mind.

In this recipe I've created a mash-up between The Elvis sandwich, and peanut butter jelly sandwiches, but in cake form. Which means there's also a slick of jam in between the two halves of each mini cake. You get a lovely and hearty end product, and they look pretty good too.

making 'The Elvis' sandwich peanut butter, banana and bacon mini cakes

ingredients to make 'The Elvis' sandwich peanut butter, banana and bacon mini cakes
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There are a few steps to this recipe, but it's nice and simple and will help you get acquainted with the baker within.

What I've done is used Stork with Butter to make these Elvis mini banana sandwich cakes - that link is the step-by-step recipe on the Stork website for you to follow at home. I've been a long time fan of using Stork when baking sponges, and I've realised Stork with Butter works very well in the peanut butter frosting in this recipe too - it's a versatile ingredient, and the fact it can be used straight from the fridge is always a bonus. 

Here's the link to my 'The Elvis' sandwich peanut butter, banana and bacon mini cakes recipe for you to try at home. If you do, the lovely folk over at Stork would love to see how it went. You can share your 'The Elvis Sandwich' cake bakes on Instagram tagging @bakewithstork, Twitter tagging @bakewithstork, or Facebook tagging the /bakewithstork page. And tag me as well please - I'd love to see too. And feel free to leave a comment below, letting us know how it went - I'd love to know what you think!

'The Elvis' sandwich peanut butter, banana and bacon mini cakes

This is a sponsored post, in partnership with Stork, as part of a campaign to help the occasional baker be creative in the kitchen, giving you the tools you need to make show-stopping, crowd-pleasing, tasty bakes in a simple way. I hope you get to try this one - it's a corker! With thanks to Elvis.

Related posts
RECIPE: Easter Chick Cupcakes with Stork

RECIPE: Easter Chick Cupcakes with Stork

Baking Easter cupcakes with Stork

Easter chick cupcakes - cute, huh

I have a confession: I can't remember the last time I knocked up a cake. Writing that down makes me realise just how long it's been. A combination of eating out a lot these days means I have less time to cook at home and when I do, I try to be good; I don't always win at that game. 

But there are probably few better excuses for getting flour in your hair than a public holiday, and Easter is prime for baking opportunities. My favourite are these pillowy hot cross buns, a recipe from Paul Hollywood, that I try to specifically set aside time for each Easter. 

So when the nice people over at Stork told me about this campaign, I jumped at an excuse to spend some much overdue time back in the kitchen and try out this Easter cupcake recipe. And hands up, I have always used Stork when I've baked sponge cakes in the past. You can see an example of that in these chocolate fondants, where I specifically reference them. And that's a recipe from 2012! 

I'm a long time Stork user. I think I first tried it because the other half, who's a big fan of sponge cakes, recommended it when I got into baking - he cooks more than me, and is better at it too. The results always impressed - it gives a lovely rise and a fluffy sponge - so I've sort of used it ever since. And now they've gone and released a new product called Stork with Butter (which - you guessed it - has actual butter in it too), and that can only be a good thing.

What I've done is used Stork with Butter to make these Stork Easter chicks cupcakes - that link is the step-by-step recipe for you to follow at home, along with a very nicely done video showing the full process - and shared some pictures of it in this post.

Cupcake ingredients. Also note - gold cupcake holders.
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I have in fact already baked this Easter cupcake recipe twice, and eaten a minimum of three in each sitting, because they're bloody lovely. Mainly thanks to the lemon frosting - there are few food stuffs that can't be improved by lemon (that's the Turkish in me), so I was most pleased to see it in the recipe. 

And probably also because this is the first time I've baked in ages, so I've been rewarding my efforts by scoffing more of them than I probably should be. Plus, the other half asked if I could make a second batch too - turns out he's also a fan.

Trying out the Stork Easter chick cupcake recipe. It works.
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So that's it folks. Go forth and bake the Stork Easter chick cupcakes - they're really easy, fresh and light, and I'm happy to give them my stamp of approval. They're also pretty cute, and I'm guessing you'll enjoy giving each one a slightly different character in their little chick faces. Don't get too attached though - remember you're eating them. 

Here's the link to the Stork Easter chicks cupcake recipe for you to try at home. If you do, the lovely folk over at Stork would love to see how it went. You can share your Easter cupcake bakes on Instagram tagging @bakewithstork, Twitter tagging @bakewithstork, or Facebook tagging the /bakewithstork page. And tag me too - I'd love to see them. Don't forget to use the #StorkChick hashtag. And feel free to leave a comment below too, letting us know how it went. 

Happy Easter folks!

This is a sponsored post, in partnership with Stork, as part of their Bake with Stork Easter Chicks campaign. I was asked to rustle up this Stork Easter chicks cupcake recipe in order to encourage you guys to give it a go yourself. I hope you get to!

Easter chick cupcakes - this guy is my favourite

l'atelier des chefs cookery school, st paul's - review

I’ve often fantasized I’d take quite well to the life of a baker. Commuting in the quiet of the night, surrounded by warm ovens and glorious smells. I’d sport a tall and floppy white chefs hat like in Ratatouille, have incredible forearms, and my working day would be over by sunrise. Not to mention all that bread.

When it comes to what I could feasibly go without for the rest of my life when faced with the ‘would you rather’ conundrum, bread does not feature. The usual suspects - alcohol, pasta, potatoes, meat – are all possibilities (if it really came down to it). But bread, never. The Turkish blood in me would boil in protest.

I would go so far as to say it is near impossible to avoid bread at a Turkish meal; it’s just as well they do it so well. Bread is considered sacred in Turkey and should someone come across a piece on the ground, it is picked up and placed somewhere elevated. There is even a saying there, ‘if you step on bread, you will turn to stone’.

Fear of physical metamorphosis aside, any opportunity to hone my bread making skills is gratefully received. L’atelier des Chefs is a cookery school in London with a selection of interactive cooking classes ranging from 30 minutes up to 4 hours and covering global cuisines, food trends and favourite recipes. They have two locations - Oxford Circus and St Paul’s - with the latter hosting a half day bread making master class for myself and seven other students with chef Daniel Stevens commandeering the ship.

The first half of the session saw us making wholemeal fruit scones of two different sizes and rather glorious flat breads to accompany a yoghurt, herb and olive oil dip - all of which we devoured for a late lunch. The latter half involved rye mix loaves allowed to rise in proving baskets, a fougasse type bread achieved by snipping baguette shaped dough and splaying the segments to resemble ears of wheat, and small but perfectly formed sugared doughnuts straight out of the fryer and filled with a tart lemon curd rustled up by one of the attendees. The day saw Daniel talking us through the science behind bread making while we got our hands dirty; the process of proving, the reasons for kneading, the effect of yeast and different types of flour, the necessary ratios of ingredients in loaves, and a particular focus on shaping bread prior to proving and baking - possibly the most important skill to master in bread making according to Chef.

All the dough we used included a ladle of a one year old funky and vigorous sourdough starter, wafting all manner of acidic yeasty aromas up our noses - a sign of its prime and adding unrivalled flavour and depth to your bread. We were informed this was a mere juvenile in the world of starters, with many years under the belt being a common occurrence amongst bakers - as long as you keep feeding it (with flour and water), it keeps on living.

I fondly recall a scene from Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential where his resident and somewhat mentally unhinged bread maker calls him up in the middle of the night screaming down the phone, whilst simultaneously intimately entertaining a lady, ‘FEED MY BITCH, DON’T FORGET TO FEED MY BITCH’, referring to his starter in the restaurant kitchen. He apparently made the best bread Tony ever tasted.

The class was full of ‘I did not know that’ tips, a lot of patience from Daniel, and closed with us popping exquisite hot and fresh doughnuts into our mouths and leaving with more bread than any normal person could possibly consume before it going stale - thank goodness for freezers.

The cost of this four hour Bread Masterclass is £99 per person - good value considering the fundamental skills you will be leaving with that will stand you in good stead for life. I am no novice when it comes to baking bread, but I too learnt a great deal from the day. They also do gift cards, and Christmas is just around the corner..

Afiyet olsun.

Note: I was invited as a guest to review this class

selfridges christmas hamper challenge: panettone party bites

Great things come in small packages. It turns out they also come in bigger packages, made of wicker and with mustard yellow leather buckles. Or a luxury hamper, to be precise. A rather gorgeous one emblazoned with an ‘S’ on the front and stuffed to the gilt with all manner of things that desire to be nibbled and quaffed around this time of year.

I have the kind folk at Selfridges to thank for this gift. But as my mother says, ‘you don’t get something for nothing in this world’. No, wait, that’s not it. It's ‘you get what you pay for’. Usually in response to me moaning about Primark flip-flops separating into foam and thong in the middle of the street leaving me shoeless and the subject of much comedy.

Regardless, a challenge had been accepted in order for me to receive this hamper; create a Christmas dish to entertain guests from the delights that lay within. The contents at my disposal were a lot of rather good Selfridges own label products: Chianti, Prosecco, a bottle of Touraine Sauvignon, piccalilli, savoury thyme biscuits, chocolate butter shortbread biscuits, English fudge, strawberry jam, a Christmas pudding, a box of chocolates, brandy butter, giant chocolate coin, tea and coffee. But the main item that caught my eye was the stonking 1kg panettone that, once the cellophane was breached, filled the kitchen with the aroma signature to this enriched, intense, slightly sweet Italian bread. 

Incidentally, it's one of my favourite things to eat at Christmas and if you want to try making one yourself, here is a step-by-step guide to baking a panettone - it is entirely worth the effort. A lot of effort, mind. But without a doubt one of the most satisfying things that would ever come out of your kitchen.

Panettone at Christmas is nothing new. But a slab of it on a plate and served to guests can feel a little uninspired. Here’s a very simple but festive way to jazz up this well-loved loaf as finger food, of which there can never be enough of at any gathering of merriment.

Panettone Party Bites A large panettone (750g-1kg) Some chocolate, to melt (I used the chocolate coin) Festive cookie cutters Edible gold glitter (optional) Take the panettone and peel off the cardboard casing. Place the bread right side up on a cutting board and with a large bread knife, score marks right around the circumference approximately 1.5cm from the bottom. Slice off a whole round following the scores you’ve made, try to keep the slice all the same thickness. Using your festive cookie cutters, punch out shapes from your slice of bread. Tip: As panettone has many air holes in it, try to avoid including any very large ones in your shapes as they will cause them to easily break apart. Repeat slicing off rounds of the same thickness and punching out more shapes until you have either used up all of the bread or have the desired number of cut-outs. Place the bread pieces on a baking tray and toast under a hot grill for a minute. Be sure to keep an eye on them as they will brown very quickly - you want to achieve a golden colour. This toasting will help keep the shape and make them easier to handle. Only toast one side so you have a combination of crisp and soft texture. Remove from under the grill and allow to cool. Once cooled, arrange them very closely together, un-toasted side up, on a baking sheet ready for the chocolate piping.

Take half of the chocolate coin and break into pieces, place in a bowl and microwave for around 30s. Remove the bowl, give the chocolate a stir, and microwave for a few seconds more until the chocolate becomes smooth when stirred. Tip: Be sure not to overheat the chocolate or it will go all lumpy. It’s best to do just a few seconds at a time, stirring between each. Take a sandwich bag and spoon the melted chocolate into one corner. Twist the rest of the bag to create pressure in the corner with the chocolate, then snip a very small bit of the corner off with scissors to create a small piping hole. Watch out – the chocolate will come out immediately! Squeeze the bag and pipe lines across all of your panettone cut-outs. Once the chocolate has cooled and hardened, separate the bites and keep air-tight until you are ready to serve them. There is no need to throw away any bits of bread that didn’t make the grade for a cut-out (heavens no) - collect these and keep them in an airtight container. Every time you have a strong coffee, make like the Italians and dunk a bit in. Simple pleasures. Afiyet olsun.

soft bread rolls with ham and truffle mustard - recipe

When I find myself hankering for a specific item of food, there is little point trying to occupy my mind with much else until the desire has been fulfilled. Great bread fresh out of the oven, lacquered with a knob of melting butter, topped with a quality deep meaty filling and a slick of mustard, and you have have something close to what my daydreams are made of.

Paul Hollywood has a great recipe for barm cakes (originating from the Northwest) in How to Bake which I've used here, the bread more widely recognised as baps, flour rolls, soft rolls, and so on. They’re compact, hold a filling well and provide more bite than usual loaf bread whilst still remaining soft.

To finish the rolls I’ve stuffed them with quality cured ham, chopped capers and a dollop of indulgence in the form of Maille black truffle and Chablis mustard. Think of a whisp of heat coupled with the unmistakable presence of truffle, creating an unparalleled pairing with the rest of the porky and piquant goodness.

You can find this flavour of the mustard (along with more than 60 new variants) from La Maison Maille Boutique - a beautiful little store situated in the Piccadilly Arcade in the West End, and their first International Boutique which opened this October. This mustard is sold in a stone pot which once empty, you can take back to get refilled.

Soft bread rolls with ham and truffle mustard

Makes 12 - 13 rolls

Rolls

500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

10g salt

40g caster sugar

10g instant yeast

40g unsalted butter, softened

320ml cold water

Filling

Butter

Good quality ham, ham hock, or other quality meat filling 

(enough for as many rolls as you wish to fill)

Capers, chopped

Maille black truffle and Chablis mustard

Put the flour in a large bowl. Add the salt and sugar to one side and the yeast to the other. Add the butter and ¾ of the water, and turn the mixture round with a wooden spoon or your fingers.

Continue to add water a little at a time until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all the water, or you may need to add a little more - you want dough that is soft but not soggy. Use the mixture to clean the inside of the bowl, folding the edges into the middle. Keep going until the mixture forms a rough dough.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes, working through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to form a soft and smooth skin.

When it feels smooth and silky, put into a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place until at least doubled in size. This could take anywhere from 1-3 hrs, depending on how the warm the environment is where you put it.

Tip I use a very low oven for this (circa 25C) but you could put it into a warm airing cupboard if you have one.

Once the dough has risen, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface. Fold it inwards repeatedly until all the air is knocked out and the dough is smooth. 

Divide the dough into 12 or 13 pieces weighing around 70g each. Shape each one into a smooth ball by placing a cage formed by your hand and the table and moving your hand around in a circular motion, rotating the ball rapidly. The shape comes with practice!

Put the rolls onto a heavily floured surface and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Cover them with large upturned bowls to prevent them drying out. Meanwhile prepare your baking trays, you will need three. Line them with non-stick baking parchment or silicone paper.

Once rested, roll out the dough balls, using a floured rolling pin, until they are twice the size of the original diameter. Lift onto the prepared baking trays, spacing them apart to allow room for spreading, and sprinkle with flour.

Put each tray inside a large clean plastic bag and leave to prove for about 1hr until the dough has doubled in size and springs back quickly if you prod it lightly with your finger. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 210C.

Tip You can also use cling film to cover the trays but if so, ensure you’ve left no gaps and enough room for the dough to rise without pressing against the plastic too much.

When the rolls are nicely risen, light and airy, bake them for around 10 minutes only until you’ve achieved the same colour as in the photographs. Leave them to cool a little on the baking trays.

Keep the ones you don't plan to eat straight away in a lidded container once completely cool to keep them soft. For the rest and whilst still warm, cut them in half and allow some butter to melt. Add the mustard, layer the meat and top with some of the chopped capers. What joy.

Afiyet olsun.

beetroot and pecan brownies - recipe

Putting a vegetable in a cake is nothing revolutionary. Naturally sweet root vegetables add lightness and aid moisture retention during cooking, and who doesn’t like a fat slice of carrot cake. Hell, I’ve even made a parsnip cake in my time. And as the nights draw in and we up our duvet tog counts, this time of year demands sustenance to satisfy the sweet tooth in all of us. The addition of beetroot to these brownies provides an earthy undercurrent that works so well with dark chocolate. Throw in toasted nuts of your choice for added texture and you have a perfect accompaniment to a vat of tea.

The recipe for these are based on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal's from his book Every Day, with a few changes.

Beetroot and pecan brownies

Makes about 20

250g fresh beetroot
250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces (I used Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa Bar)
100g dark chocolate with a touch of sea salt, broken into pieces (I used Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt)
3 medium eggs
250g golden caster sugar
A pinch of sea salt
150g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g toasted pecans, roughly chopped

First prepare your beetroot. Cut away the stalks but leave the beetroots whole and boil until tender. Drain and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, use a teaspoon to scrape off the skin which should come away easily. Finely grate the beetroot and set aside - I used a hard cheese grater.

Grease a shallow baking tin, approximately 20 x 25cm, and line the base with baking parchment. If you prefer, you can grease the base with butter and dust with cocoa powder which will also prevent the brownies from sticking.

Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and melt. I do so in a microwave for about 30s at a time, giving the contents a good stir each time. When almost everything has melted, keep the microwave times shorter, say 10s or so. If you overheat it the chocolate will split.

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl until thick and pale and then beat in the melted chocolate and butter until smooth. 

Combine the salt, baking powder and flour, sift them over the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in with a large metal spoon. Now fold in the grated beetroot and pecans – be careful not to over-mix or it will make the brownies tough.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for around 1hr or until they are done. When a knife or skewer is inserted in the centre it should come out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Don’t be tempted to overcook them or they will be dry. 

Tip: If the batter rises like a cake sponge, take the back of a ladle and compress it down - you’ll still obtain the familiar brownie appearance.

Remove the tin from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool before cutting into squares. 

Keep these airtight and they’ll remain moist and wonderful for a good week. Enjoy with a hot drink and a comfortable armchair.

Afiyet olsun.