Recipe: Almond and Hazelnut Honeycomb

I've never made this before but my sister has made it many times as an accompaniment to desserts and I thought it would be fun. I looked over a few different recipes for it, and most of them had golden syrup instead of honey. I figured they were probably interchangeable, the consistency is the same and I thought they honey would have more flavour.

I used Lorraine Pascale's recipe from BBC Food but added the chopped nuts for some variety. I served this with raspberry ripple chantilly cream, roasted plum tart and chocolate truffle:

I wasn't happy with the presentation, but the flavour experiment was definitely a success!

Here's my version with the nuts and honey:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
80g butter
160g caster sugar
80g honey
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
30g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
30g almonds, roughly chopped

Line a rectangular tin with greaseproof paper and rub the vegetable oil all over it, making sure it goes all the way to the top. Scatter the nuts into the tin.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the sugar and honey. Do not use a wooden spoon to stir but gently shake the pan to incorporate all the ingredients. Once they've all melted, turn the heat and boil rapidly for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. There'll be a strong caramel smell at this point as well.

Quickly add the bicarbonate of soda and stir in. Be careful because at this point it really will expand massively. Pour into the lined tin and leave to cool.

Schnapps Spiked Berry Cupcakes

Hello and sorry for my absence! I actually made these last Friday for a friend's birthday but haven't had the chance to write them up until now.

These pink cupcakes were for a friend's birthday, the brief was "as gay and fluffy as possible". Well, they certainly were that! Basically I went with the "take something glittery and girly and add alcohol" approach. Disclaimer: I'm not advocating for a second that all gay men like cutesy pink fluffy things, but this one does!

I'd made "spiked" cakes before, amaretto poured over a chocolate cake is very good, as is Baileys into brownies. You have to make sure that the cake base isn't too moist or the cake will seem too wet and sticky. If you're adding a very sweet alcohol remember
to adjust the sugar levels as well or they'll be too sickly.

I was short on time when I made these (had a GBBO style 90 minutes to make from scratch!) so I did the unthinkable and DIDN'T MAKE MY OWN FROSTING. No doubt many of you are tutting and clutching your pearls right now. A pink dyed strawberry or raspberry buttercream would work well, if you use any more alcohol in the frosting (and I wholeheartedly encourage you to, getting tipsy on cupcakes is great fun!) Just remember to add it a little at a time or you risk curdling the buttercream.

Anyhoo here's my actual recipe. Please forgive the imperial measures it's adapted from my Victoria sponge recipe which is venerable and ancient.

8oz soft butter
5oz caster sugar
4 eggs
8oz self raising flour
2 tsp pink food colouring gel
1tsp strawberry flavouring
3 tsp dried raspberry or strawberry pieces
2 shots of Archers (or whatever else you have left because no one in the flat will confess to buying it let alone drinking it)

1 tub of Betty Crocker strawberry frosting
Pink decorations (Sainsburys does a pot of Princess Sprinkles that gives a bit of variety)

Preheat the oven to 150C. Cream the butter and the sugar together and add the colouring and flavouring. Stir in one egg at a time followed by a bit of flour to stabilise the batter. Stir in the dried berries pieces. The mixture should now be relatively light but if you think it's too thick you can add a dash of milk to slacken it. You should be able to drop it off a wooden spoon easily.

Pipe or spoon the mixture directly into a lined 12 piece cupcake tin and bake in the oven for 25 mins or until golden and risen. Always follow the golden rule of never opening the oven door until at least half the cooking time has elapsed. Once they're done take them out of the tin and spoon over the Archers. You should get between 1 and 2 teaspoonfuls into each cake. Doing this whilst they're still hot will allow the alcohol to seep in better and the end result will be moist instead of soggy. If you want more booze in your cake save it for the frosting.

Once the cakes have cooled enough spread or pipe the icing onto them and cover with the Sprinkles.  You may find it easier to empty the sprinkles into a bowl and dip the cakes in.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Brownies

Put the photos up for this early as couldn't resist, but here's the recipe. If you want to serve them
warm, I suggest letting them cool before cutting then a few minutes in the microwave to reheat. Although the whole "straight from the oven" thing may sound like fun, they won't be set properly and will just run off the plate.

170g butter
450g caster sugar
50g peanut butter
150g dark chocolate
120g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
5 eggs, beaten

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and sugar on a very low heat until the butter has melted through. Don't let it get too hot or it will caramelise. Keep stirring it with a wooden spoon as well or it will stick to the bottom of the pan. Add in the peanut butter and stir until incorporated completely. Mix in the chocolate in small chunks and stir on the lowest possible heat until melted in.

Remove the pan from the heat. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the pan and mix in, pouring the eggs in as well. Keep stirring as fast as you can to incorporate the eggs, as they will begin to cook slightly as soon as they hit the hot chocolate mixture, and no one wants scrambled eggs in their brownies! Pour into a greaseproof paper lined tin and bake at 200C for about 30 mins.

They should have a slight crust on top but still be very squidgy inside. Once cooled, cut into squares. I served mine with peanut butter ice cream, but the flavours would also lend themselves well to banana I think. Maybe I'll eat one for breakfast with a banana and call it detox?