Baking, Recipes and Tutorials - The Pink Whisk

Pumpkin Cake Pops

Posted on October 11, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

For cake pops you need a little bit of patience, they’re not tricky but they do have a fair few steps to them. For me that means they need to be made for a special occasion! Halloween in our house comes a close to Christmas in the fun stakes – costumes, face painting, scary house decorating and generally having fun it what it’s all about for me (nevermind the boys!) If you’re having a party or want to do something different for your trick or treaters then these are just the thing.

Cake pops are a whole lot easier with these buttons that you can now get in the supermarket – no more hunting down Wilton Candy Melts or having to colour your own chocolate – perfect pumpkin colour! Continue reading →

Posted in Cake, Cake Pops, Chocolate, Halloween, Treats | 51 Comments

Toffee Apple Tart

Posted on October 6, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

So to kick off The Pink Whisk October Challenge here’s my apple recipe for Toffee Apple Tart.

Ingredients:

Pastry

150g plain flour

65g butter, cold

25g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

enough water to combine (2 -3 tablespoons)

Filling

70g fresh breadcrumbs (about 2 slices of fresh bread, blitzed)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2-3 large apples

(unpeeled my apples weigh about 550g, you will need enough apple that when peeled, cored and diced will cover the top of your tart case. They are also tart cooking apples but this can also easily be made with firm sweet eating apples)

200g demerara sugar

50ml water

10g butter

1tsp vinegar

1 tbsps golden syrup

Makes 1 x 8″ tart. A deep tin is best – this is the one I use – Amazon Masterclass Tart Tin

At this time of year a lot of the apples used in our baking are those straight from the tree from either yours or a neighbours garden. They come in all shapes and sizes so have a couple of extra on stand by if yours are on the small side. Continue reading →

Posted in Afternoon Tea, Apple, Pastry, Pudding, TPW Challenge, Treats, Vanilla | 23 Comments

The Pink Whisk Challenge – October

Posted on October 5, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

October sees the start of a new monthly Pink Whisk baking challenge – there’s so many lovely recipes and lots of great baking out there I thought it was time you shared it with me (you could win yourself a great prize too – but more on that in a minute!)

At the start of each month I will set a baking challenge based around a seasonal ingredient, and also reserve the right to throw in something random occasionally too (probably glitter!)

October’s challenge is Apples – still bountiful at this time of year and I’m always looking for great recipes to use them up.

Continue reading →

Posted in Apple, Pastry, TPW Challenge, Treats | 63 Comments

Chocolate Biscuits – Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Posted on September 29, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

If you bake then I’m sure at some point you’ll have baked for a good cause! Whatever the charity, baking is a great way to raise some well needed funds – and we all love a bake sale or coffee morning.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month – there are lots of products you can buy to support the cause but I came across this set from Avon.

A ribbon and a heart cutter and 6 pink silicone cupcake cases – £5.00 with £1.25 from each sale going directly to Breakthrough Breast Cancer – not to mention the amount you can add to that by baking and selling these biscuits. Available from your local independent Avon Representative or online at www.avonshop.co.uk . For more info about hosting your own bake sale see avonpinkpamper.org.uk

If you don’t fancy baking but do want to help out you could always donate to Breakthrough Breast Cancer here.

So let’s make some chocolate biscuits – this is the sister recipe to Sugar Cookies here – they taste great and bake well without losing their shape – a perfect recipe to have in your repertoire! Continue reading →

Posted in Biscuit, Biscuits, Chocolate, Treats | 21 Comments

How to make a Rainbow Cake

Posted on September 23, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

This is a really simple surprise to rustle up for a birthday cake – I made this one for Dylan’s (one of my boys) birthday recently. Having seen, and tasted, a great deal of things the boys are now quite difficult to amaze. So, I made this cake in secret – think of me as you read the instructions – trying to hide cake mix, cooked cakes and decorate the blooming thing without anyone seeing! And yes it was definitely worth it to see the look on his face x

Continue reading →

Posted in Cake, Children, Decorating, How To, Kids, Treats | 158 Comments

Boozy Fruit for your Christmas Cake

Posted on September 20, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

Those of you that were already with me this time last year will know that now is the time to start on your Christmas Cake (yes, really!). Soaking the fruit for a good six weeks before we even bake the cake. If you’re Christmas crazy like I am you won’t mind one bit starting early.

Continue reading →

Posted in Cake, Christmas, Treats | 117 Comments

Cake in a Mug – Just for Fun!

Posted on September 16, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

Baking doesn’t always have to be serious – sometimes it’s good to have a bit of a lark – you can certainly get that with a cake in a mug! It’s tongue in cheek baking – a quick whip up in the office kitchen or something just to amuse the kids with.

Your own personal cake in a mug from start to finish in just over three minutes.

I came across this thanks to the Just Milk Team (one of the partners for National Baking Week) – they had been baking cakes in mugs with little success and wondered if I could do any better? Heck, yes! The recipe that is all over the net is yuck, if you use it you’ll end up with a cross between a cake and scrambled egg and that’s so not a good taste.

Here it is in all its yucky glory – it looks like a bath sponge! Continue reading →

Posted in Treats | 27 Comments

Black Forest Fruits Puff Pies

Posted on September 7, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

Buttery, Puffety Pastry mini fruit pies (yes I know that’s not a real word….)

Eat them warm, eat them cold, pour with cream, with custard, just don’t eat them all yourself!

Makes 12.

Ingredients:

1 x Block of Puff Pastry (recipe here)

450g Black Forest Berries, frozen

100g caster sugar

A little milk and caster sugar for glazing.

Start by making the pie filling. I’m using frozen berries but you could use fresh, a tin of pie filling (skip straight to the assembly stage) and in whatever variety you choose. Continue reading →

Posted in Blackberry, Egg-free, Pastry, Pie, Raspberry, Treats | 2 Comments

Palmiers – using up Puff Pastry Trimmings

Posted on September 7, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

Palmiers – the cooks treat, perfect for using up Puff Pastry Trimmings!

Traditionally you shouldn’t re-roll puff pastry trimmings. It disturbs the buttery layers within the pastry which you’ve worked so hard to create. However, you can. In these times throwing away pastry trimmings is wasteful and I just can’t do it. Gather together the trimmings and gently squeeze them back together as a ball. Chill this wonky ball of pastry for half an hour or so until firm again.

Continue reading →

Posted in Biscuit, Biscuits, Pastry, Treats | Leave a comment

How to make Puff Pastry

Posted on August 21, 2011 by The Pink Whisk

It’s not complicated but it does take a bit of organising in advance. I do use shop-bought puff pastry and generally have some in the freezer. Making your own is quicker than the time it takes to defrost some

(and it’s not difficult either)

This version of puff pastry is referred to as rough puff pastry, the idea being that you only get 75% of the rise that you would get with traditional puff pastry – getting technical there! However, when you see the rise you get with this its far above and beyond shop bought.

Puff Pastry takes a couple of days to do and also means you have to wrestle with a full pat of butter – hmmmm, I can be organised but not that organised!

Ingredients:

250g strong plain white flour

pinch of salt

250g butter, cold

juice of 1/2 lemon

5-6 tbsps cold water to combine

To make the rough puff pastry add the flour and salt to the bowl of a food processor and give it a quick pulse to mix.
Cut the cold butter into 1/2cm slices and add to the food processor bowl.