Blood Orange Sponge Cake

by Lou Robbie

Happy Mothers Day! Some of the best moments shared are with tea and cake. Theres nothing nicer than a homemade cake baked for someone special and theres no one more special than a mother (especially on Mothers Day). I couldn’t resist adding some beautiful blood oranges with their stunning crimson colour to a simple sponge recipe to make this delightful cake.

This cake tastes divine and is a real seasonal treat. If blood oranges are no longer in season try with regular oranges or lemon.

Lou 🙂

Ingredients

  • 225g butter – soft
  • 225g sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 225g self raising flour
  • 1 blood orange, zest and fruit chopped
  • For the caramelised blood oranges
  • 2 blood oranges finely sliced
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • ⅓ cup of water 
  • Cremé fraiche to serve 

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven 170c. Line and grease a 9inc cake tin.
  2. Add the soft butter to a mixing bowl and, using an electric hand mixer, beat for a couple of minutes.
  3. Gradually add in the sugar and beat well until combined and the mix becomes pale in colour.
  4. Beat in the eggs one at a time and continue to beat to get air into the mix.
  5. Sieve in the flour and carefully fold in with a spatula.
  6. Zest 1 blood orange, then cut off the skin and white pith, remove any seeds and dice up the flesh.
  7. Add the zest and chopped flesh to the bowl and gently fold in.
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45 minutes until cooked through.
  9. In the meantime make the caramelised blood orange slices. Slice 2 blood oranges thinly, discard the ends and any pips.
  10. Add the cup of sugar and water to a wide pot and cook on medium until the sugar is dissolved.
  11. Add all the orange slices and simmer for 30 minutes turning half way through.
  12. Take the slices from the pot and put them on a plate to cool, pour the pink syrup into a jug.
  13. Top the cooled cake with the cooled blood orange slices. Cut and serve a slice with creme fraichê and pour the syrup over.

Halloween – Flapjack Mummies!

by Lou Robbie

Halloween is creeping closer so its time to start thinking of some tasty treats to share! We are adding plenty of wholesome ingredients to balance the sugar overload at this trick or treating time of year! Make your own eyeballs too for that startled spooky MUMMY look!! I reckon these can even go into the school lunch boxes too! #nutfree

To make the task of decorating these flapjacks more enjoyable, I recommend making and baking them the day before and add the melted chocolate the next day along with the eyeballs. Adding the finishing touches is a nice job for kids. #kidsinthekitchen

Make them this Halloween and let us know what you think in the comments.

Lou 🙂

Ingredients – makes 12

To decorate: 100g white chocolate melted

Homemade eyeballs – white fondant ready to roll icing and chocolate chips

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 180℃. Line a square or rectangle brownie baking tin (8inc x 8inc) with parchment paper.
  2. Begin by chopping or blending the dates.
  3. Add the butter, brown sugar and chopped dates to a pot.
  4. Put onto the hob and heat slowly to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar, , stir with a wooden spoon.
  5. In the meantime measure the oats, seeds, coconut and cinnamon into a mixing bowl, give it a stir.
  6. Check on the pot. Bring to a gently boil, mix well and take off the heat. The mix should be soft and sticky.
  7. Tip the sticky mix into the bowl with the dry ingredients, mix well with a spatula or spoon or use your clean hands to coat all the oats and seeds.
  8. Spoon it into the baking tin and push and smooth down. TIP: get a square piece of piece of parchment paper to and lay it on top and use your hands to smooth it out. Discard the paper.
  9. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, the top should be nice and golden.
  10. Set aside to cool completely.
  11. Slice into 12 even bars, a bread knife works best for these!
  12. To decorate: Make some homemade eyeballs using some white fondant and chocolate chips. Roll the fondant into small balls and push in a chocolate chip for the pupil. Made 24.
  13. Melt the white chocolate either in the microwave, check it every 30 seconds and give it a good stir to loosen or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water (baine marie) don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl . You need the chocolate to be fluid so its easy to spoon over the flapjacks. If it seems stiff melt it for a further 30 seconds and mix really well with a spoon again.
  14. Line the flapjacks up on a chopping board lined with parchment paper and drizzle over the chocolate, add the eyeballs.
  15. Allow the chocolate to set for 1 hour then devour!!!!

Happy Halloween, enjoy!