Posts by The Pink Whisk:
- If you haven’t prepared your boozy fruit do it now (and then come back and tell me why you didn’t do it when I posted the recipe – bad Pink Whiskers!) Soak it for at least a week, more if you can. Once you’ve soaked it there may still be excess liquid with the fruit, heat the mixture gently in a pan until the majority of the liquid has gone, then continue with the recipe.
- If you’re outside the UK can’t get hold of treacle, molasses is a good substitute.
- Make sure your tin is deep sided (3″ deep), a shallow tin won’t do the trick here!
- Be sure of your oven temperature, a long slow bake is what is called for to stop the cake from drying out too much and baking evenly.
- Position your cake on a shelf about 1/3rd of the way up from the base of the oven.
- Keep an eye on the baking – start checking your cake for doneness from 2 and a half hours in. Insert a skewer in the centre and it should come out clean when it’s completely cooked through. If your oven temp is any different to 110c then it may be done sooner, but it may also take longer if your oven runs cool. You need to employ your cake testing skills!
- When it comes to feeding the baked cake, you can miss this out completely if you would rather, wrap the cake well as described and set aside to mature. The flavours of the cake still intensify and the fruit in the cake will soften and be delicious.
- If you would rather you can feed with apple juice or tea for a non-alcoholic cake.
- If you don’t have a tin big enough to store your cake it will be fine wrapped well with baking paper and foil alone.
How to Marzipan & Ice your Christmas Cake
December 1st, 2012
Important steps before you decorate your Christmas Cake! There’s lots of different ways to do it, but here’s how I do….
For an 8″ cake you will need: Read the rest of this entry “
Cheese & Tomato Chutney Tartlets
November 15th, 2012
These Cheese & Chutney Tartlets are definitely moreish (I’ve scoffed half a dozen sitting writing this post) and they’re perfect with Sweet Chilli & Tomato Chutney. Homemade chutney isn’t compulsory though just use your favourite.
Ingredients:
1 x quantity of savoury shortcrust pastry recipe here
1 x small jar of Tomato Chutney recipe here
100g grated mature cheddar
60ml milk
60ml double cream
1 egg, large
1 egg yolk
salt and pepper
Grease the recesses of a 12 hole shallow bun tin.
Preheat the oven to 180c (fan)/200c/Gas Mark 5.
Roll out the pastry 3-4mm thick on the worksurface lightly dusted with flour.
How to Make Savoury Shortcrust Pastry
November 15th, 2012 
A lot of people have a bit of a block when it comes to pastry, some folks are adamant that they just can’t make it. It is in fact one of the simplest things to make and the addition of an egg yolk not only gives the pastry a great taste it somehow magically makes the pastry more flexible, less likely to split and crack and prevents it from being overworked as quickly.
It’s having it’s own post as I use this a lot on recipes. Here’s the way I do it… Read the rest of this entry “
Sweet Chilli & Tomato Chutney
November 8th, 2012
I seem to be making a whole lot of chutney at the moment, probably because it’s so easy to do – chuck it all in a pan and off you go. Jars of chutney make a lovely gift at Christmas especially if you’re putting together some gift hampers. Read the rest of this entry “
How to Make Treacle Toffee
November 2nd, 2012
Another Bonfire Night How To – Treacle Toffee this time
What I can’t tell you is how to eat it without ending up at the dentist!
Ingredients:
450g demerara sugar
450g black treacle
150g butter
Makes: Approx 70 pieces – feel free to halve the quantities for a smaller batch but you’ll also need a smaller tin to set it in.
Very easy to make, just like the honeycomb. Line an 8″ square tray (or similar) with baking paper.
Chuck all the ingredients in a pan and heat it over a gentle heat until the sugar melts stirring occasionally. Read the rest of this entry “
How to Make Honeycomb
November 1st, 2012
It’s called lots of things – honeycomb, hokey-pokey, sponge candy – whatever you call it it’s the stuff that’s inside a Crunchie, and I often get requests for this recipe. Very quick and easy to make and a perfect bonfire night treat. Read the rest of this entry “
Christmas Cake Baking Time!
October 23rd, 2012
The time has come! You’ve been lovingly stirring and looking after your boozy fruit and after six weeks soaking it’s ready to be turned into your Christmas Cake!
Ingredients:
1 x Boozy Fruit Soak
225g butter, softened
150g light muscovado sugar
75g dark muscovado sugar
2 tbsps treacle
5 eggs, large
285g plain flour
2 tsp mixed cake spice
100g whole almonds (optional of course if you don’t like nuts!)
150ml brandy, for feeding the baked cake
Before we get onto making the cake read through the top tips covering frequently asked questions!
Christmas Cake Top Tips:
You can also split your cake mixture into a batch of cakes of different sizes. Read the rest of this entry “
Halloween Ginger Biscuits
October 18th, 2012 
One for the kids to help with, my boys never seem to tire of this old school baking idea and will put mini Halloween cutters to good use!
Ingredients:
450g plain flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
115g butter
100g soft light brown sugar
1 egg, large
150g golden syrup
1 x pkt clear boiled fruit sweets
Makes 24. Read the rest of this entry “
Halloween Scotch Eggs!
October 9th, 2012
For a gross twist on Oven Baked Scotch Eggs why not turn them into these – perfect for slicing up for a Halloween Party!
You just need to follow the Oven Baked Scotch Eggs recipe here but peel the hard boiled eggs and place them in a small bowl of water with a dash of red food colouring added.
Remember putting daffodils in a jar of coloured water to watch them change colour? This works exactly the same, but in a gross kind of way! Read the rest of this entry “
Oven Baked Scotch Eggs
October 8th, 2012
Proper tasty scotch eggs, and not a fryer in sight!
Ingredients:
4 boiled eggs, large
400g good quality pork sausages (6)
1/2 Bramley apple
2 eggs
50g plain flour
salt and pepper
150g fresh white breadcrumbs
Makes 4. Read the rest of this entry “
