World's Biggest Coffee Morning: Lass' Baking Challenge

Hello there! It’s me again, Lass!

So it’s that time of year again when Macmillan are promoting their “World’s Biggest Coffee Morning”, and people everywhere are organising events, inviting people along, asking folks to bring along baked goods, and planning what they themselves are going to bake.

Now of course, there’s the old tried and tested favourites like: crispie cakes, butterfly buns, cookies, Victoria sponges, and top hat marshmallows. Easy to throw together and pretty much fool proof right? But also, a little boring in my own opinion. The number of coffee mornings I’ve been to, or baked goods stalls at fairs, and seen the same things over and over – it’s a little disheartening. So this year, I would like to challenge people to perhaps step out of their comfort zone if they are able to.

For example, the other year I had said that I would make a cake for a theatre cast who wanted a little something to snack on in between acts. I felt like being a little adventurous, and thought that I would use them as Guinea Pigs for a recipe I’d wanted to try for a while! I’m sure by now most people are aware that you can put vegetables in cakes, beetroot in a chocolate cake is probably the one most people have heard of. However, this time, I put BROCCOLI into the chocolate cake! And you know what? It actually worked really well. I asked everyone in the cast who had a piece what they thought the flavour of the cake was, and none of them guessed at broccoli, and most of them didn’t believe me when I told them! I’ve repeated it a couple of times since, and it’s the same reaction every time. So just think, that child who loves a piece of cake – just ate a portion of veg by eating a slice of cake! Win win all around!

So to make it…

Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour
• 250 g  caster sugar
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 500 g steamed until soft broccoli, and then liquidised/blended to a paste
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 175 g butter, melted then cooled
• 125 ml vegetable oil
• 300 ml water

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4, then prepare your cake tin however you normally do. If you use foil, greaseproof paper, or just butter and flour – go for it.
2. Melt your butter first, and then set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, broccoli and vanilla until blended. Using a mixer, beat together the melted butter and oil until just blended, then beat in the water. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended, then pour into the prepared tin.
4. Bake the cake for 50 -55 minutes. Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cake out on the rack to cool completely. This is because it’s a light and moist cake that needs time in the tin to set into its shape before it is removed from the tin.

Now, I quite liked it without any icing, as it was a nice delicate cake that had a not too sweet flavour to it. However, people like to eat with their eyes so if you’re trying to sell it by the slice, then a thin layer of icing and through the middle won’t go amiss. I’d recommend a chocolate fudge icing for this I think, and you can make that as follows:

For the icing

• 175g Dark Chocolate
• 250g butter
• 275g icing sugar
• 1tbsp vanilla extract

Carefully melt the chocolate so you don’t burn it. If you do it in the microwave or over a pan of boiling water is totally up to you. Personally, I use the microwave as it’s less mess and easier. But do watch it, so the middle doesn’t burn! Let it cool a little while you beat together the butter and the icing sugar until nice and pale and fluffy. Then mix in the chocolate and vanilla, to make a lovely glossy icing.

So, there you go. A really easy cake to push boundaries, get people talking, and have your event remembered. Here’s a couple of the ones I made! The ‘boards’ are just pieces of cardboard that I’ve wrapped in foil – saves you a few pennies, washing up, and means if someone wants to a buy a whole cake…. THEY CAN!

Now, that might be a little too ‘out there’ for you, and I get that totally! So, what else could you make? Well, you know what always goes REALLY well with a cup of tea or coffee – or so I’ve been told, as I drink neither Lol – Scones! I’ve shared this recipe on one of the Baking Tips threads I have going, but there’s no harm in sharing it again in case anyone missed it!

Ingredients

• 227g Plain Flour
• 19g Baking Powder
• 18g Milk Powder
• 50g Shortening
• 50g Caster Sugar
• 3g Salt
• 83g Sultanas
• 161g Water

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 210 degrees.
2. Measure out the water (Water and milk powder can be substituted for pure and fresh milk) and then add the sugar and salt, stir to dissolve. (This gives you a much more even distribution of both, and saves you mixing the dough to death.)
3. Mix together everything else - other than the fruit - until you have a crumb with no lumps of fat left. Add the water/milk mix and then mix until barely combined. Add in the sultanas, and combine - do NOT overwork it.
4. Tip it out onto a floured surface and roll out to just under and inch thick, then cut out your rounds. Place on a baking tray. With your excess, work it as little as possible to bring it back together, then roll out. The more you work it and roll it, the more you will develop the gluten, and the tougher and more misshapen your scones will become.
5. Leave them on the bench in their trays for 20 mins to allow to rise a little. You'll see them changing shape if you've overworked the dough at this point.
6. After the 20 mins, brush the tops with beaten egg, making sure that the egg doesn't run down the sides, otherwise this will bind your scones to the height they're at now at that point, and you'll end up with wonky and sloped tops.
7. Bung in the oven and bake for 20mins.

Munch!

Tips - You're better off using plain flour and baking powder, because then you know you will get the same lift every time. Where with the self-raising, there's slight variations in the mix, which can have quite a big impact on your bake.

Just a thought, where I’ve said butter or shortening, I usually use Stork. You want unsalted of whatever you’re going to use, but for this sort of thing fat is fat. So just use whatever is in your fridge and you’ll be laughing.

Now, I’m going to stop boring you to tears because I could talk about recipes and techniques for hours and hours – and you’d all probably refuse to ever step foot into a kitchen again! Lol. However, if there’s a recipe you just can’t get right, or something you’d like a recipe for, or any question regarding baking, patisserie, or chocolates – then you can find me here. Please do pop in and ask any questions you might have, share your successes, share your failures, and share whatever you like. I look forward to hearing all about your baking adventures and if anyone takes up my challenge to push the ingredient boundaries! 

Lass

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Why not have a go? And let us know about your favourite recipes by commenting below.