Tag: baking

Valentines Eton Mess <3

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It is Valentines; this recipe is so simple but is a great treat for your loved one.  With heart-shaped meringues sweet berries and cream, a great desert after your romantic meal.

This need not be just for Valentines, it is tasty, creamy and decadent for any time of the year!!

Ingredients:

Meringue;

4 large organic egg whites

115g caster sugar

115g icing sugar; sieved

red food colouring

Sauce;

150g fresh strawberries

1 tbsp. icing sugar

Cream;

2 tubs double cream

3 tbsp. white sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

A handful of fresh blueberries

Strawberries for decoration

Redcurrants for decoration

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 100 degrees, line a baking sheet with parchment paper (you can stick this paper down with blobs of the meringue mixture later) Make the meringue in advance as they taste better after being left in a warm oven for a few hours.

Whisk the egg whites on a medium speed to be stiff, the bowl should be able to sit above your head without dropping any mixture, with soft peaks forming when you move the whisk.

Next turn up the speed and add the white sugar a spoonful at a time; once all mixed in the mixture should be glossy.

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Then fold in the icing sugar, again a little at a time. Add a drop of food colouring, fold in to make the meringue pink, then pop into a piping bag.

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Pipe small hearts out onto the prepared tray and bake in the oven for 2 hours.  Turn the oven off after the 2 hours and leave the meringues in there for a few more hours.

In a blender blitz up the strawberries and icing sugar to be a sauce, set aside.

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Whisk the cream up, when it starts to thicken add the sugar and vanilla, whisk the cream to become thick.

Crumble in some of the meringue hearts reserving some for decoration.

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Stir in the blueberries.  In layers starting with a little sauce layer up the mess, to have sauce  then cream and so on.  Decorate with redcurrants, sliced strawberries and a meringue heart each.

 

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Happy Valentines Day,

If you are in the Costa del Sol the full recipe is featured in the Seaside Gazette!

❤ Love Lulu ❤

Christmas Cake xxx

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This Christmas cake recipe never fails, it’s the basis of Delia Smiths classic Christmas cake that over the years I have adapted.  But it always comes out perfect.

It is best to bake these as soon as you can to allow for the feeding process, and then the decorating.  I have however cooked these the week before Christmas and fed the cake everyday and it still tasted great.

The smell as you bake will pull you straight into the festive spirit 🙂

It can be difficult to find some of the ingredients here in Spain but do not worry, I have recipes for candied peel, and marzipan on my blog. You can also replace the black treacle with molasses; which is not as dark but still creates a good cake.  The Spanish brown sugar is also fine to use if you cannot get hold of soft brown sugar.  If you use soft brown sugar and black treacle the sponge will be much darker in colour, the taste will be good neither way. Ultimately once this cake is fed with lots of Brandy who cares about these differences!

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Ingredients

800g dried fruit, a mix of currants, sultanas, raisins and cranberries

50g mixed candied peel, finely chopped

4 tbsp brandy, plus extra for ‘feeding’

225g unsalted butter

225g soft brown sugar

4 large eggs, beaten in a jug

225 g plain flour

½ level tsp Salt

¼ level tsp Freshly grated nutmeg

½ level tsp Ground mixed spice

1 level tbsp Black treacle

50g glacé cherries, finely chopped

50g chopped nuts, I used almond and walnuts

1 lemon, Grated zest

1 orange, Grated zest

Method:

Soak the dried fruit, and the peel overnight with the brandy.

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Heat the oven to 140 degrees.

Double line your tin with parchment paper.  Also cut a piece to fit on the top of the cake for while it is cooking, cut a tiny hole in the centre; this is for the top to stop it from over browning.

Cream together the butter and the sugar with a whisk until pale and fluffy, then pour the eggs in, little by little, whisking as you go.

Sieve together the flour, salt, nutmeg and mixed spice from a height to give it more air. Then gently fold the flour into the creamed butter with a large metal spoon.

Drizzle in the treacle and fold once.

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Add the fruit, peel, cherries, nuts, lemon and orange zest and gently fold into the mix.

Place into your cake tin, and flatten evenly, you can leave a little dip in the centre to make sure it does not rise too much, it is good to have a flat top for decorating.

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Cook in the oven for around 4 hours, check the cake by piercing a skewer through the centre, if it comes up clean then it is cooked.

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Let it cool a little in the tin before removing. Then let it fully cool before wrapping it up with brown paper and storing in a sealed container.

Feed the cake by piercing with a skewer or tooth pick and pouring a little brandy into the holes. Depending how much time you have before Christmas will depend on the feeding, I would say every other day for two weeks, one day from the top of the cake, and one day the bottom. This should produce a lovely moist sponge. I have however in the past only had a week to feed, so I fed it every day to the same success.

To decorate is your choice; you can add marzipan and icing or leave it plain.  On some cakes I placed blanched almonds on the top before baking as you would a dundee cake…

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For marzipan see my recipe here:

Marzipan

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I like to eat my Christmas cake without icing and with cheeses such as wensleydale cheese, crackers and chutneys…

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Last years cake decoration…

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I will share this years decorations as soon as I have done them 😉

Lulu xx

Espresso Tiramisu Mousse

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Hola Happy Easter!!

Here is a perfect desert recipe to have at Easter, chocolate heaven!!!

I love coffee and mousse so decided to have a go at an espresso mouse which then turned into a Tiramisu mousse!!  This is an espresso mousse, with sponge fingers soaked in more espresso layered on top with Mascarpone cream and chocolate shavings.  Served in a tea-cup, perfect as a dinner party desert.

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Ingredients:

250g dark chocolate 70% cocoa (plus extra for grating on top)

40g Butter

4 large eggs separated

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup espresso cooled

250g Mascarpone cheese

Sponge fingers (1/2 per tea-cup)

150g double cream

Alcohol!! It’s best to use Masala wine or Tia Maria but I used rum as I had it in; just a drizzle.

Method:

Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl above a pan of boiling water; make sure the bowl isn’t touching the water.  Do not stir it let it melt.  Once melted stir gently and set aside to cool.

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In another bowl place egg yolks and sugar and whisk until it thickens to a foamy mousse.  Add the espresso and stir through gently.

Add the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture.

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Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until stiff, you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without any spilling.

Carefully with a large metal spoon fold the egg whites into the chocolate and egg mix, make sure it is all mixed well but try not to over mix this, you want it to have the air so the mousse is light.

Place into your tea cups ( I poured the mixture into a jug and poured evenly into the tea-cups), place into the fridge for about 3/4 hours before serving.

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To make it a Tiramisu mousse, pop in the fridge whilst you prepare the cream; Whisk the cream up to be thick then whisk in the mascarpone, and alcohol…I also added a Tbsp. sugar to sweeten it.  

Place more espresso in a bowl to cool, then soak each sponge finger into the espresso and then pop on top of each mousse…half a finger should be enough each cup. Then neatly spread over a good serving of the mascarpone cream and then grated chocolate on top.

I would bring these out of the fridge about 25 minutes before serving.

Serve with the saucer and a chocolate covered wafer!

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Enjoy

Lulu xxxx

PRINTER FRIENDLY OPTION

Espresso Tiramisu Mousse

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

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by Lululemonandlace

Ingredients:

250g dark chocolate 70% cocoa (plus extra for grating on top)

40g Butter

4 large eggs separated

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup espresso cooled

250g Mascarpone cheese

Sponge fingers (1/2 per tea cup)

150g double cream

Alcohol!! It’s best to use Masala wine or Tia Maria but I used rum as I had it in; just a drizzle.

Method:

Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl above a pan of boiling water; make sure the bowl isn’t touching the water.  Do not stir it let it melt.  Once melted stir gently and set aside to cool.

In another bowl place egg yolks and sugar and whisk until it thickens to a foamy mousse.  Add the espresso and stir through gently.

Add the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture.

Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until stiff, you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without any spilling.

Carefully with a large metal spoon fold the egg whites into the chocolate and egg mix, make sure it is all mixed well but try not to over mix this, you want it to have the air so the mousse is light.

Place into your tea cups and place in the fridge for about 3 hours before serving.

To make it a tiramisu mousse, pop in the fridge whilst you prepare the cream; Whisk the cream up to be thick then whisk in the mascarpone, and alcohol…I also added a Tbsp. sugar to sweeten it.  

Place more espresso in a bowl to cool, then soak each sponge finger into the espresso and then pop on top of each mousse…half a finger should be enough each cup. Then neatly spread over a good serving of the mascarpone cream and then grated chocolate on top.

I would bring these out of the fridge about 25 minutes before serving.

Serve with the saucer and a chocolate covered wafer!

Lulu xxx

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Re-blog from Easter last year…..

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Hola Folks,

It is Easter week and I thought I would share these posts from last Easter here in Spain!!! Please bear in mind these are some of my first blogs; apologies for quality of photo’s…….

Apr 3, 2015

Traditional Spanish Easter Doughnuts ‘Bunuelos’

Easter is an important time of year here in Spain, with a whole week of processions in every town starting from Palm Sunday and ending Easter Sunday.  Holy Week is the annual commemoration of the Passion of Jesus Christ which is celebrated by religious brotherhoods that perform penance processions on the streets.  In Salobrena this year it is called ‘Semana de Pasion’

Families here all get together during this time and watch these processions and cook and eat together.

Wednesday this week myself and both my Aunts were invited to the home of the mother in law of my Spanish teacher Maria, to be shown how to make traditional Easter doughnuts called Bunuelos.

It was a lovely experience .  Also her lifelong friend and neighbour;  Rosario who we are told is an expert at these delicious treats  came over to help demonstrate.  It was like Floyd ….my Aunt said all we needed was a big glass of vino tinto!!

Anyway we tried to get the full recipe it was hard with the language barrier but also as they do not measure their ingredients.  This is something they make for their families every Easter, no other time of the year, please take a look… Continue reading →

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

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I use to make this cheesecake a lot for friends when they came over for dinner, it sounds really rich and sickly but actually is very light and also moreish.  I don’t have the biggest sweet tooth but I couldn’t stop eating this the other day!!

I make my base thicker than normal cheesecake bases and use Oreo cookies so it is a dark chocolate crunch to go along with the white chocolate cake.  The raspberries sweeten this nicely and also make it look really pretty.

The recipe is simple to make and yet a crowd pleaser….. give it a go!!

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Ingredients:

Base:

175g Oreo biscuits 

100g butter melted

Filling:

500g Mascarpone cheese

50g Caster Sugar

175ml Double Cream

125g punnet of raspberries

400g white chocolate

1 vanilla pod

A spring form cake tin about 9″

Method:

To make the base blitz the Oreo’s up in a blender to make crumbs them pulse in the butter until well combined.  Alternatively, pop biscuits into a clear bag and seal, then bash with a rolling pin until they are crumbs then stir into the melted butter until combined.

Grease the base of your cake tin then press the biscuit crumbs evenly onto the bottom.  Place in the fridge whilst you prepare the filling.

Break the chocolate into even pieces and place in a glass heat proof bowl above a pan of boiling water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water.  Halve the vanilla pod and place them into the bowl with the chocolate.  Let the chocolate melt.

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Once melted remove from the heat and remove the vanilla pod, let the chocolate cool a little.

It is tricky to find double cream here in Spain, I can only find the long life stuff, which is fine but it does tend to whip up and react differently to fresh cream.  Therefore, if using this I would whisk this up a little first to thicken before adding the other ingredients. 

Once it is thick like whipping cream add the sugar and mascarpone and whisk until well combined.  If using fresh cream, you can just add the cream, sugar and cheese in together and whisk all at once.

Now pour in the cooled chocolate and gently stir.  Then add the raspberries and mix well, I squeezed a few in my hands first so that they split and coloured the mixture pink and streaky.

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Once all combined pour onto the base and even the top.  

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Place into the fridge for a few hours, but if possible I would do this the day before and let it stay in the fridge overnight.

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Once cooled and hardened carefully remove the cake tin, get a palette knife and run it between the cake tin base and biscuit base and it should then easily remove fully.  Serve up!!

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xxxx

PRINTER FRIENDLY OPTION

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

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by Lululemonandlace

Ingredients:

Base:

175g Oreo biscuits

100g butter melted

Filling:

500g Mascarpone cheese

50g Caster Sugar

175ml Double Cream

125g punnet of raspberries

400g white chocolate

1 vanilla pod

A spring form cake tin about 9″

Method:

To make the base blitz the Oreo’s up in a blender to make crumbs them pulse in the butter until well combined.  Alternatively, pop biscuits into a clear bag and seal, then bash with a rolling pin until they are crumbs then stir into the melted butter until combined.

Grease the base of your cake tin then press the biscuit crumbs evenly onto the bottom.  Place in the fridge whilst you prepare the filling.

Break the chocolate into even pieces and place in a glass heat proof bowl above a pan of boiling water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water.  Halve the vanilla pod and place them into the bowl with the chocolate.  Let the chocolate melt.

Once melted remove from the heat and remove the vanilla pod, let the chocolate cool a little.

It is tricky to find double cream here in Spain, I can only find the long life stuff, which is fine but it does tend to whip up and react differently to fresh cream.  Therefore, if using this I would whisk this up a little first to thicken before adding the other ingredients.

Once it is thick like whipping cream add the sugar and mascarpone and whisk until well combined.  If using fresh cream, you can just add the cream, sugar and cheese in together and whisk all at once.

Now pour in the cooled chocolate and gently stir.  Then add the raspberries and mix well, I squeezed a few in my hands first so that they split and coloured the mixture pink and streaky.

Once all combined pour onto the base and even the top.  Place into the fridge for a few hours, but if possible I would do this the day before and let it stay in the fridge overnight.

Once cooled and hardened carefully remove the cake tin, get a palette knife and run it between the cake tin base and biscuit base and it should then easily remove fully.  Serve up!!

Lulu xxx

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