Carrot Cake (from a box!)

So my weighing scales are currently indisposed which does cause some issues when baking. Now of course there are always cups but to be honest I really couldn’t be bothered to create something from scratch last night. I was making chicken schnitzel and wanted to dedicate time to bashing chicken breasts really flat with a rolling pin. Plus it always creates a lot of washing up as The Thew has a gluten free coating which means another bowl is needed (for those interested I blitz nuts and/or crunchy edamame with seeds and add seasoning) so adding baking accessorises to that – well it’s just a mess. 

I therefore decided to buy a box of cake mix while in M&S buying dinner items. I’m not snobby about cake mix boxes. They do a job and are a good base for pimping. My friend’s husband works wonders adding extra ingredients to Betty Crocker Brownie mix. The results are epic, cause less washing up and less stress. I got the carrot cake one as I knew I could add extra spice and some walnuts to it (sadly I had no walnuts at home but hey ho). 

In general it went well. Everyone at work said it tasted good (if not a little sweet) but I have some complaints about it. Nothing that impacted hugely on the end result but things that shouldn’t really happen. So the brown sugar in it was clearly in little clumps and they were impossible to de-clump. When baked this means that the sugar goes molten and leaves holes in the cake. Not an issue but it doesn’t look good. Then the frosting. I’ve never known cream cheese frosting that doesn’t set – it’s meant to! I added twice the amount of cream cheese and it still didn’t set after a night on the cake in the fridge. Once again, not a massive issue but it’s not ideal. So below is my take on making it work a bit better than the instructions on the pack including adding some butter to the icing. I think I'll make cake box baking a regular feature to test them out.

Ingredients

1 x box of M&S carrot cake mix

2 large eggs

½ tsp baking powder (as they never put enough in)

3 tsp vegetable oil (not olive)

5 tps water

1 tsp cinnamon (because they never out enough in)

1 carrot (large)

Handful of chopped walnuts

30g butter, softened

200g full fat cream cheese (I’ve doubled this as it was far too sweet) 

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C/GM4 and grease/line two sandwich tins.

2.    Put the cake mix in a bowl, add the eggs, baking powder, oil, water and cinnamon. Mix together well. Grate the carrot into the bowl, add the walnuts and folder into the batter.

3.    Pour half of the batter into each sandwich tin and bake for about 20 minutes. Check after 15 as the size of your sandwich tins will determine how long they take. Plus if they are on different shelves of the oven you may want to switch them half way through to get even cooking.

4.    While the cake is cooking put the icing sugar packet into a bowl and add the butter. Mix together until the butter is evenly distributed throughout the icing sugar. Add the cream cheese and mix like mad. Leave in the fridge until you need it.

5.    Once the cakes are cooked leave to cool completely before assembling. Put one cake down first, spread half the cream cheese icing over it and put the other cake on top. Spread with the rest of the icing and you can decorate with more walnuts and grated carrot if you so wish. 

N.B. With this many extra ingredients it may seem just as quick to just make it from scratch. However the box recipe excludes four of my ingredients so that would be easier and regardless of that there is much less weighing and mess.

Doesn't look exactly the same as the baked version, does it?!

Red Food Colouring - Red Velvet Cupcakes

I’ve ranted on this blog about how Dr. Oekter red food colouring actually makes Red Velvet Cakes brown but have recently found out that I unfairly blamed him (is there a ‘him', was there ever?)! Natural red food colouring in the UK goes brown when baked due to EU regulations and for a period of time that was the only type you could get. However Dr. Oekter now does a red gel (I guess they've had time to experiment) that is 'bake stable' and stays red. Yay! So don't use anything 'natural' and check out a 'bake stable' one.

I did bake this week but made meringues, which I have made before. I’ve updated my recipe though as I think my ones I made this week were better than the previous ones.

Alfajores

What is with all these celebrities writing open letters to each other? I get the idea behind them but it’s getting a bit boring. They have all this money and they resort to releasing the equivalent of a press release about someone else and their thoughts on them. It also seems to be the older celebrities that write them, I guess because younger celebrities just let rip at one another in 140 characters or less. 

However that is also disappointing. These people are meant to be creative and they’re just doing what everyone else does. Where is the sky writing above someone’s film premiere? Where is the interpretive dance on Oprah’s sofa to show how they feel about twerking while drinking SodaStream? Why don’t they write their thoughts across their naked body and commission a Vogue shoot? It could be so much more interesting and entertaining for all.  

Hey ho. I’ve been feeling slightly angry all week as the extent of my wheat allergy (which I’m in total denial about) starts to make itself known. I’ve done something gluten free this week and gone all out and made it dairy free as well. These do taste ok, and the texture of the biscuit does work, although if you’re ok with dairy then use better instead of the margarine. Sadly when cooking they don’t fill your home with the smell of fresh baking but more like slightly burnt rice. However the caramel filling smells great so that’s a bonus. The original recipe has Xanthan Gum in but as it's powdered mould I left it out. It doesn't lack for want of it.

Ingredients

 

Biscuits

200g dairy-free margarine (or butter)

100g icing sugar

200g ground almonds

200g brown rice flour

1tsp cinnamon

Pinch of salt 

Caramel

150g dairy-free margarine (or butter)

150g light brown soft sugar

A good dollop of golden syrup

OR A tin of Carnation Caramel

 

1.    Cream the margarine and sugar, then add the rest of the biscuit ingredients, mixing well.

2.    Make the dough into a disc, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.

3.    Preheat the oven, while you wait, to 180°C/GM4.

4.    Next make the caramel as it will need to cool before you use it. Put the sugar and golden syrup on a very low heat and melt together. You’ll need to mix it every now and again as you don’t want it to burn. It will create a paste, rather than liquid, so don’t panic.

5.    Add the margarine (it will spit a bit) and mix until the margarine is incorporated. Then leave on a slow simmer (it will look very bubbly) for 15 minutes. Do not stir. After that time drop some of it into a cup of cold water and check if it’s chewy. If it is it’s done. Leave to cool. Stir a bit as the fat will want to separate out but don’t panic about it.

6.    Once the dough has had its time in the fridge roll out on a surface floured with rice flour. You want it about 4mm thick. Then cut out discs of 4 – 6cm in diameter.

7.    Put on a baking tray, they don’t spread so you don’t have to worry about that, and bake for about 22 minutes (if you have a gas oven then turn half way through for an even colour).

8.    Cool and spread one biscuit with the caramel – there is enough to be generous – and sandwich with another. This makes about 20 in total if you use a 6cm cutter.