Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Would you believe I've never made a pineapple upside down cake before? As this month's AlphaBakes which I am hosting has the letter 'U' I thought it would be a good opportunity to try my hand at this classic retro cake. The last time we had the letter U I made something a little less traditional in the form of Peaches and Cream Upside Down Cake. The cake received rave reviews at work and there wasn't a crumb left at the end of the day. The sponge is really light and moist and the pineapples added a fruity juiciness to the cake. Plus I'm sure it counts as one of your 5 a day! 

I did a little online research to look at the origins of pineapple upside down cake and it's fascinating. It orginated in America in the 1920's. By the mid 1930's, pineapple upside down cake was one o the most widely made cakes in America. It's popularity peaked in the 50's and 60's and started to wane by 1970's as it seemed outdated. Did you know that there is a National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day on April 20th?

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes hosted by myself this month and co hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is U for Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

I'm also sending it to Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber Jabber UK as the theme this month is Cakes from Around the World. As mentioned this is an American creation although I thought it was British!

 basic cake ingredients plus pineapple rings and cherries

 butter and sugar mixture which caramelises on cooking 

 Hurrah I managed to squeeze 7 pineapple rings as stated in the recipe 

 add cake batter on top and bake 

 It looks really pretty and so retro  

 It's quite a thin cake but absolutely delicious

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

Almond, chocolate chip and berry mix oat cookies

I created this recipe specially to enter into multiple blog challenges this month. It's based on a recipe that I previously devised and I have to say that this combination was particularly tasty. Everyone at work loved it! The cookies were crumbly and buttery with an almost melt in your mouth quality. I love the mix of dried berries & cherries and chocolate chips and the crunch from the almonds. 

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes which is hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co-hosted by myself on alternate months. The letter this month is O for Oats.

 

This month's We Should Cocoa Challenge is guest hosted by Rebecca from BakeNQuilt. She chose the theme 'cookies' which I was really pleased about as cookies are my favourite treat. The challenge is created by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog.  

November's Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked has the theme of 'Dried Fruit'. These dried berries & cherries will fit in nicely. It's Tea Time Treats 2nd birthday so I hope they will enjoy this. On a separate note, Kate will be standing down from co-hosting the challenge at the end of the year so if you are interested in co-hosting this lovely challenge with Karen, do let her know. 

The One Ingredient Challenge hosted by Nazima from Franglais Kitchen and co hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food has the theme of 'Fruits of the Vine'. I'm hoping that my dried berries & cherries will count! 

Finally, I'm entering it to a new blogging challenge called the Biscuit Barrel hosted by Laura from I'd Rather Bake Than... The theme this months is 'Festive and Party'  and I think these would be great at any party. 

 adding the almonds, chocolate chips and mixed dried berries & cherries 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

220g butter
150g brown sugar
75g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g self raising flour
270g oats
100g dark chocolate chips
140g dried berries & cherries
100g almonds

• Preheat the oven to 170C. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
• Cream the butter and sugar until lights and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour and add the oats and mix well.
• Add this to the creamed butter mixture.
• Finally stir in the chocolate chips, almonds and dried fruit.
• Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop out cookie dough spaced apart on a lined baking tray.
• Bake for approximately 10 - 12 minutes until golden brown. 
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

English Madeleines

As you can tell, I've been on a bit of a baking spree lately! I decided to make another entry for this month's AlphaBakes. I looked through my books for 'E' inspiration and found this in my Mary Berry Ultimate Cake Book - English Madeleines.  I've made French madeleines before but never English Madeleines.  The main difference is their shape - the French ones are traditionally shell shaped whereas the English ones are made in dariole moulds and are covered in jam & dessicated coconut and topped with a cherry.

AlphaBakes is a monthly blogging challenge hosted this month by myself and co-hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. Each month, we pick a random letter and the idea is to bake something with that letter as the main ingredient or name of bake. This month, the letter is "E".  Today is the deadline for Feb AlphaBakes so make sure you've emailed them across.

 I knew I'd get a chance to use my dariole mould one day.

 dessicated coconut, glace cherries and strawberry jam. 

 ready to go in the oven 

 Have everything ready to assemble your madeleines. 

 Use a fork to hold the cake, brush jam over it, roll it in coconut and top with half a cherry.

 Cute little cakes

Recipe from Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book 

Makes 12 madeleines

100g butter

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

100g self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4-6 tablespoons strawberry jam, sieved

50g dessicated coconut

6 glace cherries, halved

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place all the ingredients for the cake in a mixer and mix until smooth.
• Fill the dariole moulds until 2/3 full.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch. 
• Allow to cool completely.
• Trim the bottom of the cakes so they stand independently. 
• Warm the sieved jam in a pan and set aside. 
• Use a fork to spear the base of the cake to hold them.
• Brush them with the warm jam, then roll in the coconut to coat.
• Add half a glace cherry on top to finish.

Cherry Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

I have been wanting to make Hershey's thumbprint cookies for ages. I actually bought a pack of Hershey's kisses whilst I was in America earlier this year in anticipation and I finally got round to it many months later. The opportunity of course is for my AlphaBakes challenge as the letter is T for thumbprint cookies. AlphaBakes is co-hosted by myself and Caroline from Caroline Makes. This month we have a special prize so make sure you get your entries in on time for a chance to win!

I chose a cherry and almond flavoured cookie (even though it's not my favourite) so I could also enter it to We Should Cocoa where the theme this month is cherries.  We Should Cocoa is the brainchild of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and Chele from Chocolate Teapot. This month it is guest hosted by Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen. This is probably the first time I've not scoffed tried most of the cookies myself as I don't like the flavour combination but everyone else thought it was great! They do look really cute too :)

I'm also entering these to United Bakes of America hosted by Gem from Cupcake Crazy Gem. She is baking her way through her book United Cakes of America and has asked us to join in either using an American recipe, ingredient or a recipe inspired by a state favourite. Hershey's of course are American so I think these cookies will fit the bill nicely.

 cherries and chocolate 

 lovely red cherries 

 made with lots of kisses :)

 making thumbprint cookies 

Recipe adapted from food.com

Makes approximately 50 cookies (can't quite remember now - sorry!)

225g butter
200g icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon milk
280g plain flour
200g glace cherries, chopped
50 Hershey's Kisses
optional : granulated sugar
optional : red food colouring to get red cookies - perfect for Christmas :)

• Preheat oven to 175C.
• Grease and line 2 baking trays.
• Cream the butter and sugar until creamy.
• Add the almond extract and milk.
• Stir in the flour.
• Finally fold in the chopped cherries.
• Use a small ice cream scoop to place round balls of dough spaced apart on your baking tray.
• Gently indent the cookie with your thumb as shown above.
• Sprinkle some granulated sugar before baking (this is optional)
• Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.
• As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, place 1 Hershey's kiss in the middle of each cookie where the indentation is.
• Allow to cool completely. 

Pineapple upside down cake

Would you believe this is my first pineapple upside down cake or upside down anything (intentionally!).  I got this recipe from reliable BBC Good Food - I don't think I've tried a bad recipe yet. It was fairly simple to make and tasted good. The sponge was light and moist from the pineapple syrup and I also like the way it looks.  It was quite a flat cake so I'm not sure if I did something wrong or it's not meant to rise very much.  Any ideas? 

 creating the top of the cake from the bottom

 adding sponge batter on top of the fruits

 voila! 

Recipe from BBC Good Food website
For the topping
50g softened butter
50g light brown soft sugar
7 pineapple rings in syrup
glace cherry

For the cake
100g softened butter
100g golden caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Make the topping by beating the butter and sugar together until creamy.
• Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20cm round cake tin.
• Arrange the pineapple rings on top, then place cherries in the centre of the rings. 
• Place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tablespoon of the pineapple syrup and using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency.
• Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it's level. 
• Bake for 35 minutes.
• Leave to stand for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. 

Apricot, cherry and white chocolate oat cookies

Apologies for the long absence everyone. I don't know where July has disappeared to. I have been baking albeit very sparsely this month and haven't had time to blog about any of my creations yet but hopefully all in good time. Anyway I'm glad that I've just managed to make it for the we should cocoa challenge this month. When I first found out that the special ingredient for this month is apricots, my heart sank a little as I don't really like apricots and couldn't immediately think of an apricot and chocolate pairing. However, in a flash of inspiration at the weekend, I found this cookie recipe which has apricots and cherries (yet another fruit I'm not too fond of). So you can imagine my excitement at making these cookies! I was honestly surprised at how well they turned out and how delicious they are. They are quite addictive and I had a quite a few when it came out of the oven :) The cookies are quite buttery with a slight crispy edge and soft chewy bits of apricots and cherries. Plus I'm pretty sure they contribute to my 5 a day! :)

 lovely apricots

 cherries 

 cookie batter 

 yum! 

250g butter

150g soft brown sugar

150g self raising flour

225g porridge oats

100g glace cherries, cut into pieces

100g soft dried apricots, cut into pieces

100g white chocolate chips 

• Preheat oven to 180C. 
• Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. 
• Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Use your hands at the end to give it a really good mix. 
• Place a tablespoon of dough or use a small ice cream scoop onto the baking sheet and flatten slightly. 
• Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes. 
• Remove from the oven, cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

It's a Rocky Road to Love

My second entry for the February ICL challenge was 'It's a Rocky Road to Love'. The cake was really light and spongy topped with homemade rocky road. It was supposed to be a marble cake but I had some difficulties getting the marbled effect. Dont think it turned out too badly though! It definitely tasted amazing :) (yes I know- obviously I will have a biased view) I'm not a huge fan of rocky road as I don't like marshmallows and cherries but these were yummy! I'm sure it won't be my first and last time making them.

Marble Cake

125g butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1&1/4 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup milk

pink food colouring

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

2 teaspoons milk, extra

Rocky Road Topping

1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts

1 cup (200g) glace red cherries, halved

1 cup (100g) pink and white marshmallows, chopped coarsely

200g milk eating chocolate, melted

• 
  
  Preheat oven to 180C
• 
  
  Beat butter, extract, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.
• 
  
  Stir in sifted flour and milk in 2 batches.
• 
  
  Divide mixture evenly among 3 bowls.
• 
  
  Tint one mixture pink.
• 
  
  Blend sifted cocoa powder with extra milk in a cup; stir into another mixture.
• 
  
  Leave third mixture plain.
• 
  
  Drop alternate spoonfuls of the mixtures into cases.  Pull a toothpick backwards and forwards through mixtures for a marbled effect; smooth surface.
• 
  
  Bake for approximately 20 minutes
• 
  
  Combine ingredients for rocky road topping in a medium bowl.
• 
  
  Place topping on tops of cooled cakes.
• 
  
  Enjoy! :)