Week 50 - Windsor Mess

Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely break? Me, I had lovely few days relaxing at my Mum's, thankfully I managed to shake off the cold I had & my appetite returned to something resembling normal. I hope you were all good this year & Santa brought you lots of lovely things? I had an early Christmas present on Christmas Eve, the local paper published an article about my year long baking, blogging challenge! The article also invited readers to send in suggestions for my final recipe...it is only 2 weeks away, yikes! I extend that invitation to you too, if you think I've missed an essential recipe, or you have a favourite you'd like to suggest I'd love to hear from you. Just leave a comment on this post or send me an email at rebeccabakescakes@hotmail.com. I was quite chuffed with the article, although having my photo taken in my kitchen was a little stressful! Click here to have a look at the online version of the article.

So this weeks recipe is a dessert rather than a cake, but after copious amounts of Christmas cake, mince pies & Christmas pudding over the last week, I thought this might be a welcome change. It's my twist on the classic Eton Mess, as I live just a hop over the bridge in Windsor, I thought I'd call it a Windsor Mess (apologies if this is already copywritten or in existence!) Eton Mess is made with raspberries & for me tastes like Summer, my version uses spiced oranges & tastes altogether more wintry & Christmassy! I also added orange rind to the meringue which gives a really subtle flavour.

For the meringue
2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
Grated rind of 1 orange

For the orange sauce
40g butter
120g demerera sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tbps water
3 large oranges

Pot of whipping cream

1. Beat the egg whites until stiff, add half the sugar & orange rind then beat some more until they go stiff again. Finally fold in the other half of the sugar with a spoon. Line a baking sheet with baking paper, place dollops of the mixture onto the tray & pop in the oven at 130c/GM1 for a couple of hours until they have dried out & are crisp. My batch made 6 meringues.

2. To make the orange sauce, place the butter, sugar, spice & water into a pan. Heat gently until melted together, then bring up to the boil & bubble for a couple of minutes, take off the heat.

3. Top & tail the oranges, then carefully slice down the sides to remove all the skin & pith, then cut into small chunks. Stir the oranges into the caramel sauce & leave to cool completely. Finally whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.

4. Now for the construction! I used my martini glasses, but a sundae dish would be just as good. Take 1 of the meringues & break it into small pieces, place a spoonful of oranges in the bottom of the glass, then sprinkle over half of the crushed meringue. Add a layer of cream, the some more oranges & a couple of spoonfuls of the sauce. Finally sprinkle the rest of the meringue over the top.

I really liked this combination of the tangy oranges with the sweet caramel sauce, meringue & cream. It's perfect if you have people over for dinner as you can make everything in advance & just throw it together when you're ready to serve, well it is meant to be a mess!

All that's left for me to do is wish you a very Happy New Year, Rebecca x

p.s. don't forget to suggest a recipe for my final week!

Week 49 - Christmas Cookies

Hello! How are we all this week, survived the big freeze? I know a few weeks ago I said the snow in the Shire was a bit pathetic, well it certainly made up for it this week & it tipped it down on Saturday! It all made for a very pretty looking Windsor, but now it's all just turned into a yucky, mucky mess & I'm hoping it'll all melt away soon. I don't know about you, but I've also had to have an emergency re-think on the present front too as some things are stuck in the post! Thankfully I've finished work for the year, so it's into town for me today for some last minute shopping.

As well as the recipe this week I've also decorated my family Christmas cake, click here if you want to have a look at the finished article, must admit I'm quite chuffed with it. There's also a suggestion as to what to do with the marzipan you generally always get left with!

So this weeks recipe is a really simple sugar cookie, they make lovely tree decorations & I have heard a rumour that they are in fact a favourite of Santa Claus!

125g butter
150g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
225g plain flour
Few drops of vanilla essence
100g icing sugar mixed with water to a thick paste
Edible decorations (optional)


1. Cream the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk & vanilla, then finally stir in the flour & combine until you get a firm dough. My kitchen is quite cold & I have granite surfaces, so I found kneading it a little to warm it up helped it along, it was quite crumbly otherwise.

2. Roll out the dough to around 5mm thick, then cut out into whatever shapes you like. I made stars, then used a skewer to poke a hole for the ribbon in the top. Bake in the oven on a baking sheet lined with paper at 180c/GM4 for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they turn from light golden (what you want) to burnt (not what you want!) very quickly!

3. Leave to cool thoroughly, then attach a ribbon or string through the hole & decorate at will! I used the silver balls & sugar snowmen I had left over from last weeks Gingerbread House.

So that's all from me for this week, I hope you all have a lovely Christmas. Thanks for all your support & comments on my marathon blogging baking challenge, it's very much appreciated. I'll see you again next week as we head closer towards the Rebecca Bakes Cakes finale, only 3 weeks to go!

Happy Christmas!

Rebecca x

Week 48 - Gingerbread House

Hello my festive friends! Please be nice to me this week, I've come down with a horrible cold & am rapidly losing my voice. I currently sound like Mariella Frostrup, which to be honest would be quite nice if it didn't hurt so much. Sadly it also means most of my tastebuds have gone on strike so I'm not really enjoying my food at the minute which is torture! There's only 10 days to go until Christmas, so I'm hoping for a speedy recovery, Christmas in our house is all about the eating & drinking, it's not going to be much fun if I can't taste it :-(

This week I've finally got round to doing something I've planned for about the last 3 Christmases, I've made a gingerbread house! I'm not sure why I've had this desire, maybe it was being read Hansel & Gretel as a child!? Maybe it's because I used to love building Lego houses & the thought of an edible one was just too tempting? The gingerbread itself is really easy to make, you just need a bit of time & patience to construct & decorate it. It's quite therapeutic really, although I think I probably ended up eating more sweeties than ended up on the house! I used mini marshmallows to create the snow, milky way stars for the roof & a mixture of jelly tots, smarties & tooty frooties for the rest of the decoration. I also had some really cute little sugar snowmen & white sugar sprinkles that looked like ice. You can use whatever you want really, let your imagination run wild! I've also included a house template below, I just cut mine out of baking paper.

100g butter
100g demerara sugar
200g golden syrup
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsps bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
500g plain flour
200g icing sugar
Assorted sweets to decorate
Cake board

1. Put the sugar & syrup into a pan & bring it up to boiling point over a gentle heat. Add the bicarb & give it a good stir, it will turn cloudy & froth up a bit so make sure you have room in the pan!

2. Chop the butter into small chunks & put into a large mixing bowl. Add the syrup mixture to the butter & stir until the butter is melted. Beat in the egg, then mix in the flour a little at a time until you end up with quite a stiff dough.

3. Dust a work surface with flour, then roll out the dough to about 5mm thick. Cut out 2 of each of the template shapes & place them onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in the oven at 170c/GM3 for 10-15 minutes. I baked mine in 3 batches, leaving them to cool completely on the paper

4. Now comes the tricky bit! Firstly trim the sides of each panel, this makes it fit together a little easier. Next mix the icing sugar with a little water until you have a stiff paste. Take one of the side panels, spread a thin layer of icing on the bottom & stick it to the cake board. Repeat with all the sections using the icing as cement, putting the roof on last. You might need to hold this in place for a couple of minutes to leave it to set. Then go wild with the decorating! Leave to set in a cool place.

I love my gingerbread house, although I don't think I could ever bring myself to destroy it! So with that in mind I have wrapped it up & donated it to our annual Christmas charity raffle at work. Hopefully it will go to a good home & it will be happily broken up & devoured, herein fulfilling it's Christmas Gingerbread destiny! Have a good week, see you next time, Rebecca x

Week 47 - Florentines

Blimey it's cold! Hope you're managing to stay warm & haven't been snowed in, we've had rather pathetic flurry in the Royal Borough so sadly no snow days for me :-( I'm very excited that the Windsor Ice Rink returns this year! It's in Alexandra Gardens in the centre of Windsor, right by the banks of the river, it's a beautiful setting & sure to make you feel in the Christmas spirit. It opens this weekend, take a look at the website for opening times & booking information.

So I'm launching into full on foodie prep for the festive season & this weeks recipe has become a bit of an annual tradition. I really like making foodie gifts at Christmas & these are perfect to take to dinner or a party as a thank you gift. Last year I also made Santa cookies for my friends at work, the idea was to leave them for Santa on Christmas Eve, but if I'm honest I don't think many of them made it out of the office! Florentines are really easy to prepare, but if I'm honest once they come out of the oven they are a little fiddly to finish. But have patience & it'll be well worth it in the end!

150g butter
150g light brown sugar
100g flaked almonds
50g chopped nuts
40g mixed peel
100g glace cherries
100g raisins
150g dark chocolate, melted

1. Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the sugar & heat gently until it dissolves & just starts to bubble. Take off the heat & stir in all the other ingredients.

2. Line a baking sheet with baking paper & place small dollops of the mixture, leaving space in between for them to spread. Bake in the oven at 180c/GM4 for 8-10 minutes.

3. Lift out the oven, slide the paper off onto a wire rack for the florentines to cool. Line the tray with fresh paper & spoon out the next batch.

4. Once all cooked & completely cooled, carefully peel them off the paper, you might need to slide a knife underneath to help. Place them face down on the paper & cover the bottom with the melted chocolate & leave to set.

When the chocolate was completely set I packed them into sellophane gift bag. I bought mine from Morrisons supermarket, but did also notice them in Sainsburys. They were around £2 for a pack of 10, with ribbons & I just added a simple silver gift tag. My batch made 28 florentines, but you could easily half or double the quantities depending on how many you need. Enjoy! Next week I think I'll be trying my hand at some baking construction, until then, Rebecca x

Week 46 - Red Velvet Cupcakes

Pinch & a punch for the first of the month, it's December so the Christmas countdown starts today! The tree will be going up at the weekend & I'm really looking forward to the party season. We're starting early with our work do tomorrow evening, outfit is sorted, nails are done, just need to work out how exactly you use a velcro roller & I'm ready to go. I bought a gorgeous new pair of heels which are pretty much sky scrapers, even by my standards. I've been off work today so thought I'd better try them out, you should have seen me, teetering round the house in my jammies & a pair of 4 inch heels, actually it's probably best you didn't see me! They're remarkably comfy, but I think as back up I should try & get a pair of those fold able ballet pumps to stick in my handbag...I have a feeling I might have to abandon the stilts at some point!

So entries to my second giveaway closed yesterday & thanks to the random number generator I'm happy to announce the Kel of Writings, Ramblings & Reviews is my lucky winner! Well done Kel, I hope you like the mugs, given the Arctic conditions I hope you enjoy using them to warm up with a nice hot brew? With only 6 weeks left to go in my baking challenge, I'm hoping I can bring you a finale giveaway soon...watch this space.

This weeks recipe is something that I've wanted to try for quite some time & comes from the very beautiful Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. The red velvet is created by mixing together red food colouring with cocoa powder & vanilla essence to form a paste. Word of advice, do not mistake this as melted chocolate & lick the spoon...eh Mum? I baked this week at my Mum's house & before I could stop her she did exactly that, looked like she'd gone all vampire like & had to spend 20 minutes brushing her teeth!

For the cakes
60g butter
150g caster sugar
1 egg
10g cocoa powder
20ml red food colouring
1/2tsp vanilla essence
120ml whole milk
150g plain flour
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2tsps white wine vinegar

For the frosting
300g icing sugar
50g butter
125g cream cheese

1. Beat together the butter & sugar until light & fluffy, then beat in the egg. Mix together the cocoa powder, food colouring & vanilla until you have a smooth paste. Add this to the butter mixture & beat well until all combined.

2. With the mixer on a slow speed, beat in half the milk, then half the flour. Repeat with the remaining ingredients until you have a lovely smooth mixture. Finally add the salt, bicarb & vinegar, then turn up the mixer & beat well for a couple of minutes.

3. Line a 12 whole bun tin with paper cases & fill each about 3/4 full with mixture. Bake in the oven at 170c/GM3 for around 20-25 minutes until well risen & springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin.

4. To make the frosting, beat the icing sugar & butter together, then add the cream cheese & beat for around 5 minutes until fluffy, spread this frosting all over the top of the cakes when cool.

These are really delicious & as the name suggests, have a lovely velvety texture! Have a good week, I'm giving my Christmas cake it's final drink of brandy before tackling the decorations! See ya, Rebecca x