Lemon Yoghurt Cake

I had quite a bit of leftovers in my fridge so in true bakingaddict style, I decided to make a cake! This is a really quick and simple recipe with great results. I had oranges and lemons leftover from making my Valencia Orange and lemon Victoria Sponge Cake and some yoghurt that I bought to make a smoothie but never got round to it. I'd eaten some of it but couldn't eat the whole pot as there was quite a lot of it! It's a mix all in one recipe and the result is a delicious, moist and citrusy cake.

As this recipes uses up leftovers, I'm entering it to two blog challenges this month. The first is Frugal Food Fridays which is run by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and guest hosted this month by Caroline from Caroline Makes.

The second challenge is the no waste food challenge hosted by Kate from Turquoise Lemons where the theme for June is leftovers. 

 yoghurt, lemon, orange

 ready to go in the oven 

 fresh from the oven

 yum!

170g self raising flour

110g sugar

150ml fat free yoghurt

150ml sunflower oil

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

zest of 1 lemon 

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)

zest of 1 orange (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C.
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until well incorporated (or you can use a food processor).
Pour into a suitable cake tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Slice and enjoy.
You can make a lemon glaze icing with icing sugar and fresh lemon juice if you wish.

Spring Cake Pops

I hope everyone is having a good Easter weekend! A quick post from me today - no baking involved. Just cake and buttercream and sprinkles on a stick otherwise known as cake pops. I had quite a bit of cake leftover from making my easter eggs with a twist. The cakes overflowed over the egg shells and I kept the cake crumbs with the intention of just eating them but then I thought why not make some cake pops? I thought about making cute easter chicks/bunnies or easter eggs but in the end decided to just use some sprinkles as it was much easier and less time consuming! 

I'm sending this to Frugal Food Fridays run by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and hosted by Utterly Scrummy this month. Cake pops are a great way to use up leftover/stale cake and is a fun project to do with the kids. You can make it as fancy or simple as you like. Here I've used leftover cake, candy melts and sprinkles (I had an odd assortment of sprinkles which had just a small amount in each box).

I'm also sending this to Bunny hop, an Easter link party hosted by Mrs Fox's Sweets 

 cake crumbs, candy melts, buttercream

 shape cake pops, then chill in the fridge for approximately 15 minutes or until firm

 dip the cake balls in candy melts and pour sprinkles over them before the candy melt sets. Allow to dry completely. 

Chocolate Espresso Pots de Creme

I had lots of egg yolks leftover from my first disastrous attempts at macarons (I am pleased to report that I have since had great success).  I googgled egg yolk recipes and came across this recipe from epicurious.com. I'm not a coffee drinker but I love coffee in desserts. Last time I made mini custard pots with different flavours, the coffee one was my favourite. These were relatively simple to make and tasted absolutely amazing!! It's really rich, creamy and decadent. You really only need a few spoonfuls as it's too rich to have the whole portion in 1 sitting. If you like coffee, chocolate and creamy desserts then do give this a try. 

I'm sending this to Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays  where the aim is to make something from scratch ie no prepared ingredients and I think this fits the bill. 

and also to Frugal Food Fridays run by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and hosted by Utterly Scrummy this month as this is uses up leftovers and is quick and easy to make. 

 I got to use my new Russian Doll measuring cups. 

 finely chop the chocolate 

 measure out the cream and milk 

 adding lots of espresso powder as I love the coffee kick! 

 whisk the egg yolks and sugar 

 almost ready.. 

 bake in a water bath 

 cover with foil - remember to poke holes in them 

 can you see how silky smooth the texture is? 

Recipe adapted from epicurious.com

170g chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/3 cups double cream (~305mls)
2/3 cup milk (~550mls)
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (adjust to taste)
6 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar

• Preheat the oven to 170C. 
• Finely chop the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl.
• Place the cream, milk and espresso powder (optional: you can add in Baileys or Kahlua here to taste) in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. 
• Pour this hot mixture over the chopped chocolate, whisking as you pour until the mixture is smooth. 
• Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in another bowl. 
• Add the warm chocolate mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. 
• Pour the final mixture through a fine mesh sieve and cool completely. 
• Divide the mixture into ramekin bowls. 
• Place the ramekins in a large roasting tray. 
• Prepare a water bath by filling the roasting tray with hot water until it's approximately half full then carefully place the ramekins inside. Top up with extra water if necessary. 
• Cover with a large sheet of foil. 
• Poke holes through the foil with a fork or knife. 
• Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes until they are set around the edges but still wobbly in the centre. 
• Allow to cool on a wire rack then refrigerate for best results.
• Serve with some chocolate covered coffee beans or a sprinkle of cocoa powder. 

Blueberry Pancakes with spelt and buttermilk

I've been on a pancake phase recently. I can't believe I've never made pancakes until recently. It's so easy to make and does not require any special ingredients or equipment.  I saw this recipe on What I Baked This Weekend.  It looked really good and I decided to give it a go but modified it to use up all my leftovers.  I had spelt flour and buttermilk leftover from baking my honey and spelt cake and some blueberries that needed to be eaten. I made half the original recipe as I didn't want to end up with stacks of pancakes! 

The pancakes were delicious and I really like the texture of the spelt flour here. I'm sending this to Frugal Food Fridays hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours. 

Recipe adapted from What I baked this weekend 
Makes 4 pancakes of the size shown

120g spelt flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon honey
150ml buttermilk
75ml milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
75g blueberries

• Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the honey, buttermilk, milk, egg and oil until smooth. 
• Make a well in the flour mixture and add in the wet ingredients. 
• Whisk until just combined. 
• Fold in the blueberries, saving a handful to sprinkle on top. 
• Heat a small amount of oil in a non stick frying pan. 
• Add a small amount of batter (depends on what size you want your pancakes!) and cook until the surface starts bubbling. 
• Flip the pancake over and cook until light golden brown.
• Serve with the remaining blueberries and a drizzle of honey.

5 minute cheesecake

Following the success of my 5 minute chocolate mug cake, I was super excited to try out the 5 minute cheesecake in a mug inspired by the same amazing blogger Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella. If you haven't been to her blog, do head on over there and be prepared to be amazed and inspired.

It's so quick and simple and tastes incredible! Yes it really does taste like a cheesecake and it's low fat as well. As with the chocolate mug cake, the flavour variations are endless - you can use different fruits or jam, chocolate or even coffee. Do let me know if you try a different flavour and tell me what is your favourite cheesecake?  I'm already envisioning a chocolate version topped with crushed Oreos or a Christmassy version with orange zest, dried cranberries/raisins and a dash of cinnamon (rum optional). 

I'm entering this to Frugal Food Fridays hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours as this is a great time saving recipe plus it's fairly low cost to make and if you're anything like me, you'll already have the ingredients to hand. It's also healthy(ish), does not require any fancy equipment and there is minimum washing up required. It's a win win :) 

 a mini tub is perfect for 1 portion

 I added some lemon zest for extra 'zing' 

 I only had frozen mixed berries to hand so that's what I used 

 before cooking 

 after cooking - it should still be wobbly in the middle, it will set after cooling. 

 delicious!! 

Recipe adapted from Not Quite Nigella

To make 1 portion

20g/2.5 tablespoons icing sugar

35g/2.5 tablespoons low fat cream cheese (one mini tub as shown)

2 tablespoons low fat yoghurt (or sour cream)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

zest of 1/4 - 1/2 lemon (depending on how lemony you want it to be)

1/2 egg, beaten

Handful of frozen mixed berries

1 Hobnob cookie crushed in a ziplock bag (or digestive)

• In a large bowl, whisk the icing sugar, cream cheese, yoghurt and egg until very smooth.  This is important otherwise your cheesecake will be lumpy. 
• Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest and berries. 
• Spoon into a ramekin or mug and microwave on medium for 1 minute. All microwaves vary and I have a really old one that only has a cook or defrost function  (Mine took 2+ minutes to cook). I would advise cooking in 30 second bursts to ensure it's not over or undercooked. 
• The cheesecake should still have a wobble in the middle but be cooked around the edges. It will continue to cook once its out of the microwave and it will set once it's been cooled in the fridge. 
• Chill in the fridge for a few hours (this is the hardest part - waiting to eat it!)
• Crush the cookie in a sealed ziplock bag and sprinkle on top of the cheesecake and enjoy! 

Banana, cinnamon and honey pancakes

It has been hard to focus and concentrate on what I need to do this week- writing my dissertation. I am so easily distracted and all I want to do is bake particularly Christmas baking.  So I decided to treat myself to some pancakes as an extra incentive.  I looked around my kitchen to see what I could use and came up with this creation. I had quite a few ripe bananas that needed to be used and leftover cinnamon sugar from making cinnamon sugar palmiers. I didnt have any nice bananas that I could slice to put on top so I sprinkled a few dried cranberries (again leftover from baking chocolate, orange and cranberry cookies). I also thought it made the pancakes look slightly festive and therefore added a sprinkling of icing sugar which you can't really see in the photo. This would make a great Christmas or Boxing day breakfast.

By my calculations this only cost less than £1 to make. It's simple, tasty, healthy-ish and satisfying! So I'm sending it on to Frugal Food Fridays hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours. Do click on her blog for more details about this exciting challenge and feel free to join in! 

Makes 5 pancakes of the size shown

125g self raising flour
1.5 tablespoon cinnamon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
180mls milk
20g butter, melted
2 ripe bananas, mashed

To decorate (optional)
Sprinkling of icing sugar
drizzle of honey
small handful of dried cranberries

• Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. 
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg with the milk and melted butter. 
• Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
• Mix well and finally add in the mashed bananas. 
• Put a small amount of butter in a non stick frying pan. 
• Pour the batter into the pan until it forms a small circle. 
• Once the edges are cooked, flip the pancake over - it should be lightly browned.
• Continue cooking until golden brown. 
• Serve immediately with optional toppings suggested - drizzle of honey, sprinkling of icing sugar and a few dried cranberries. Alternatively, slice half a banana for added nutritional value.