NEW WEBSITE

Hi guys,

Just letting you know that I now have a brand new website over at www.thebravingtonkitchen.com
I won't be posting on here anymore and I have moved some of my most successful recipes over there, so take a look!

Hayley x

Kitchen Cupboard Orange Cake

I had a lot of oranges that needed using up. So I thought today I would make a lovely Orange cake. As the title of the post suggests, this was made from things I had in my kitchen cupboard as I was feeling far to lazy to walk to the shop. I followed a basic victoria sponge theory, changing the ingredients for what I could find, with the addition of a small amount of cinnamon and mixed spice. 

You can double the amount in the recipe to make a layer cake, but I really think there is something so nice about a simple single layer cake. Feeling more virtuous and secretive than a bold double layer cake. Double layers should be saved for special occasions, or when the need to show off is required. 

For this cake, I exchanged white sugar with brown and used some sour cream for the icing as I had some needing to be used up. The beauty of this cake is that you can even exchange oranges for lemons, limes and other citrus fruits. The dense, moist cake doesn't overpower you with orange, its a subtle taste.  

As always, I love hearing about you all trying the recipes and love you getting in touch. 

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Instagram.

Have a great weekend guys. 

Ingredients  

1 Oranges zest and juice (or alternative citrus fruit) 

3 Free range eggs

200g Softened butter

200g Soft brown sugar

200g good quality flour

1tsp Vanilla extract

1tsp cinnamon powder

1tsp mixed spice

1stp baking powder

For the icing

50ml soured cream

200g icing sugar

1 Orange

Preheat the oven to a medium heat. Grease a 9 inch spring form tin. 

Cream the butter and sugar together, then slowly add the eggs, vanilla extract and the juice and zest of one orange. Then stir in all the dry ingredients, mixing well to avoid lumps and bumps.

Pour the mixture into the greased tin and bake on a medium heat for 40 minutes. The cake should be coming away from the sides a little and a inserted knife will come out clean. 

Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack until completely cool. 

For the Icing, mix the juice and zest of the other orange with the sour cream. Sift in the Icing Sugar and mix. You want to have quite a thick consistency as you don't want it running off the sides of the cake too much. mine was a little thin.  Sprinkle some of the zest on the top for decoration. 

Chocolate Fudge

Happy Thursday everyone!

I can't tell you how happy I am today. I've been suffering form cluster migraines and have had a continual migraine for 10 days, today I have no pain! After loosing my patience with medicine,  I went for acupuncture and a massage. It seems to have done the trick as I have been pain free for nearly 16 hours! I've attached some pictures of the herbs that I was given to drink as they looked very pretty. 

So, onto fudge. I needed something to really cheer me up this week, that was also really easy to make. This fudge is based on a fudge by Nigella, from her book How to be a Domestic Goddess. I added chopped chocolate at the end. Believe me, there are few things in the world that taste better than this fudge.  

ingredients

• 250 grams soft butter
• 1 x 397 grams can condensed milk
• 800 grams granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 300g good quality chocolate (or 150g milk, 150g dark chocolate)

Method

Grease a square tin (I used a 9"x9" tin). 

Put the butter, condensed milk and sugar into a heavy based sauce pan on a medium heat. Stir together until the sugar is dissolved, when the mixture starts to bubble, turn the heat down to low and leave to bubble for a few minutes. 
If you have a kitchen thermometer, the temperature of the fudge should be 115c/238F. If you haven't got a thermometer, don't worry, I don't either. To test if the fudge is ready, drop a few drops of the mixture into some iced water and it should keep its shape. 
Once the fudge holds its shape in the water take the mixture off the heat and add the chopped chocolate and stir until mixed thoroughly. Transfer into the greased tin and let it cool completely in the fridge. Once cool, transfer onto a clean surface and cut into squares. 

Italian Yoghurt pot Cake & Breakfast Ideas

Hello everyone, I hope your all having a nice week?

This week I wanted to post a lovely cake recipe and some healthy breakfast ideas for those of you on a health kick at the moment. January is a difficult month, mainly due to the fact that its five weeks long wich feels like forever, its constantly dark, no one has any money and I know a lot of people that have given up drinking for the whole month (its beyond me why january is the month to do that, surely a drink makes all of the above better?)  

Its also when people start a fresh with their eating and drinking habits, which is something we all need after the christmas indulgence right? The best thing you can do for healthy eating is to get into the habit of having breakfast. I know, that you would rather have ten more minutes in bed, but you wont regret it when your up and about, your blood sugar is level and your concentration level is higher than normal.  

Like many people, my other half can't eat first thing in the morning. I've tried and failed to get him to eat breakfast for years. The overnight pots (above) seem to have done the trick. They are a variation of a bircher muesli. porridge oats, chia seeds, berries (of any sort) and almond milk left over night in a washed out jam jar. The jam jar is so that I can make them up ahead for the week on a sunday night. The jar also makes the porridge easy to take to work, so you can eat them when you have had time to settle into the day. 

Also, I said in the last post that I was going to try and make a loaf of bread every week or as needed as we don't actually eat a lot in the house. Above is a picture of the first one, made with whole grain spelt flour. It was bigger than I had anticipated, but tasted good, so I will keep you updated on the progress.

The cake that I wanted to show you this week is a Italian Yoghurt pot cake. Its a dense, not too bad for you, smooth cake, perfect in the afternoon with a coffee. The recipe I used was from Nigellisima, by Nigella Lawson, you can find the original recipe here. I differed mine slightly, as I didn't have an lemons in the house at the time. Instead I used red grapefruit zest and a little of the juice instead. I also swapped the vegetable oil for some extra virgin olive oil as I feel it gives it a nicer flavor. 

Here is my song of the week- Sia Elastic Heart, An incredible video, an incredible song.

recipe

• 150 grams plain yoghurt
• 150 ml vegetable oil (plus some for greasing)
• 3 eggs
• 250 grams caster sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• zest of ½ unwaxed lemon (I used Grapefruit zest with 1TSP of juice) 
• 175 grams plain flour
• 75 grams cornflour
• 1 teaspoon icing sugar (to serve)
• 
  
• Method
• 
  
• I know this cake best in a ring shape, ciambella (pronounced “chambella”) as it’s known in Italy, I used a bundt tin, as its the only round one I had. but you can use a shallow round tin. don't use a deep tin as the cake won't cook evenly, you need to get a nice even bake. 
• Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and grease your ring mould (or springform tin); you can use the oil for this.
• Separate the eggs and put the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Whisk the whites until you have firm peaks, then set aside while you get on with the rest of the cake.
• Scrape the yogurt out of its pot and on to the egg yolks, then use the emptied yogurt pot to measure out your other ingredients – so, next, add 2 pots (just) of sugar and whisk with the egg yolks and yogurt until airy and light.
• Now fill your yogurt pot up with vegetable oil and, beating all the while, slowly add this to the egg yolk mixture. Then beat in 2 capfuls/teaspoons of vanilla extract and the zest of half a lemon.
• Still beating, add 2 yogurt potfuls of flour followed by 1 yogurt potful of cornflour or potato starch, then scrape down and fold in with a rubber or silicone spatula. Now, with a large metal spoon, dollop in the whisked egg whites, and fold them in with the spatula.
• Fill the prepared ring mould with the smooth, soft batter – it will come right to the top – and bake in the oven for 30–35 minutes; when cooked, the sides will be coming away at the edges and a cake tester will come out clean.
• Remove it from the oven to a wire rack, letting the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out.
• Once cooled (although I love this still slightly warm), transfer it to a serving plate or stand and dust with icing sugar. Traditionally, this cake would be placed on the plate with the smooth side uppermost, but I rather like it turned back up the way it was baked, with its rustic cracks and uneven surface visible. Enjoy with a dollop of yoghurt or a scoop of ice cream if your serving as a desert. 

To the New Year & Chocolate Orange Blondies

I hope you have all had a great Christmas and new year. Here are a few pictures of things I've been up to over the festive period. Yes I am aware that most of them are food, this is an accurate representation. 
Soon we will all start coming to terms with the fact that on Monday, we will have to leave the last of the Christmas chocolates alone, wake up to an alarm again and put the leftover buffet away.

I will be heading back to London, leaving the countryside behind. After three weeks of eating, drinking and sleeping, my eye bags have subsided and my waist line had expanded. 

I always get excited about the prospect of the new year, taking stock of the previous one and looking forward to what the next year will bring. 

At this time of year, I start to make a mental list of things that I want to try to bake or cook this year. Things such as corn dogs (I've never actually tried one, so I thought, why not?!). I also want to improve my bread making and am going to attempt one every week (this will probably not happen, but it's the thought that counts no?). 

I'm not one for making resolutions, I don't ever keep them. After all the indulgence of the festive period, my body naturally wants to lay of the rich indulgence I have greedily forced upon it, for example It's already wanting to exercise, something that I have to say doesn't come naturally to me. 

To finish of the year, my god daughter and I made a quick chocolate orange blondie. I wasn't planning to put this on the blog as I wasn't happy with the final look, but my god daughter informed me that it was too delicious not to. The recipe was an adapted one from 

Phyllis Grant over on Food52. The adapted recipe is below. 

Ingredients

• 200g unsalted butter
• 200g all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract
• 150g dark brown sugar (light brown is a good second choice)
• 1 chocolate orange (reserve 6 segments for the top)

Method

1. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Swirl it around a few times. It will foam and spatter. After 3 to 4 minutes, it will start to smell nutty. Don’t walk away. It’s ready when the sizzling quiets down and you see little brown bits drop to the bottom of the pan. Pour into a large bowl. Cool butter for 5 minutes. The warm dough will melt the chocolate segments a bit.
2. Heat oven to 350° F. Prepare your 8 by 8-inch baking pan with butter and flour, parchment paper, or aluminum foil (I find foil to be the easiest: just press it into the pan with a little overhang, no need to grease). Set aside.
3. Whisk together flour and salt. In another bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Set aside.
4. Add brown sugar to the cooled butter. Mix with a wooden spoon for about a minute.
5. Add egg/vanilla mixture to butter/sugar mixture. Mix until combined and shiny, about 20 seconds.
6. Add flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Mix until there are still a few pockets of flour visible. Roughly chop the segments and to the dough. Mix until evenly distributed and all flour pockets are gone, but be careful not to over-mix! Spoon dough into your prepared baking pan. Spread evenly with the back of your wooden spoon (it will keep its shape). Spread the left over segments onto the top of the dough for decoration. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. You can’t do the toothpick test with this because it always comes out clean. Instead, look for a crispy top that's just starting to crack. Firm slightly-browned edges. And when you press on the center, you don’t want it to feel really soft. Don't stress. You can always throw it back in later. Just know that once it's cool, it will firm up quite a bit. And once frozen, it is dreamy in all forms.
7. Remove from the oven. Cool completely before removing from the pan. The blondie block should pop right out (either pull out by parchment/alumninum foil or if in a greased pan, just invert onto a cutting board and carefully flip it back over). Cut into desired portion sizes and enjoy!

Happy Christmas!

So, I am currently writing this drinking Bailey's on ice and thinking about wrapping the last few presents before Father Christmas arrives tomorrow night. Christmas is the best time of the year. Ideally, it would be drawn out for another four weeks in order for me to actually have time to bake and cook everything in my head. 

Although it is a time for gluttony and decadence, in the run up to Christmas I actually like to eat as fresh as possible. That's why below I have included the recipe for a really quick dish I made for dinner this week. A white bean stew with spinach, mint and aubergine. Warming but fresh and a nice rest for the tummy from the stodge. It also works very well with left over Turkey thrown in for a post christmas dinner. 

I'm back in the Peak District this week, in actual fact, I've been here for nearly a week now. The annual visit to nearby Chatsworth house was exquisite and wouldn't be complete without a mince pie and a stop by the award-winning farm shop. 

I've been doing a lot of dog walking, visiting friends and family and getting some rest in before a hectic new year. 

I'm going to be part of a family team tackling the Christmas dinner this year. The course I have been designated is the pudding. In my opinion, the most difficult, but the best course. I've been weighing up a few options as people often don't feel the need for pudding after a huge christmas dinner. I will let you know how I get on and of course, I will do a post on the pudding I choose. 

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large white onion
2 crushed garlic cloves
200g of quinoa
600ml of chicken stock or water
1 can of butter beans
2 handfuls of spinach
1 small handful of mint leaves
1 lemon

 Method

Wash the quinoa is a fine sieve and place it in a pot with the stock, a pinch of salt and some ground black pepper. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a low heat and let this cook for around 10 minutes.
While this is cooking heat the olive oil in a pan on a medium heat, chop up the onion finely add a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes. Throw in the garlic for the last minute being careful not to burn it (nothing worse than burnt garlic).

Drain the quinoa if there is any excess water then, poor the onion mix into the quinoa and stir.
Wash the butter beans in a sieve and add into the quinoa with the spinach and a few tbsp of water. Cook for 10 minutes,, keep moving so that it doesn't burn on the bottom. 
Zest the lemon, finely chop the mint and throw these both plus the chilli flakes over the top and stir, then take it off the heat and serve.

Have a wonderful christmas & a happy new year!

Nigella's Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cheesecake.

Please excuse the look of this cheesecake. It may look a little rough around the edges, but believe me, what it lacks in beauty it more than makes up for in taste. 

Here at the Bravington Kitchen, things have been very hectic and festive. We had our house Christmas dinner last night and we may have indulged slightly (this is a complete lie, there's nothing 'slightly' about a four course dessert, a vomitoria was almost required). I've included some pictures of the festivities below for your enjoyment (or not). 

So, all this festive indulgence got me thinking about my favourite recipe for a Christmas treat. 

This peanut butter & chocolate cheesecake just hits the spot. Perfectly rich, indulgent and has that comforting claggy texture of something utterly naughty. The mixture of sour cream and chocolate in the topping is delicious as it is easy and covers a multitude of sins, if like me, you are impatient in taking it from the tin too soon and the top cracks. This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's Kitchen, one of my go-to cook books. 

My song of the week this week is the beautiful and talented Jessie Ware- Tough Love

Ingredients

for the base

• 200 grams digestive biscuits
• 50 grams salted peanuts
• 100 grams dark chocolate chips
• 50 grams soft unsalted butter

for the filling

• 500 grams cream cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 200 grams caster sugar
• 125 ml sour cream
• 250 grams smooth peanut butter

for the topping

• 250 ml sour cream
• 100 grams milk chocolate chips
• 30 grams soft light brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3/325°F.
2. Then process the biscuits, peanuts, dark chocolate chips and butter for the base in a food processor.
3. Once it comes together in a clump, turn it out into a 23cm / 9inch springform tin and press into the bottom and up the sides to make the crunchy crust.
4. Put in the fridge while you make the filling.
5. Process the filling in the cleaned or wiped-out processor bowl, putting in the cream cheese, eggs and egg yolks, sugar, sour cream and peanut butter and whizzing to a smooth mixture.
6. Pour and scrape the filling into the base in the chilled springform tin and cook for 1 hour, though check after 50 minutes. The top – only – should feel set and dry.
7. Take the cheesecake out of the oven while you make the topping.
8. Warm the sour cream and chocolate with the brown sugar gently in a small saucepan over a low heat, whisking to blend in the chocolate as it melts, and then take off the heat.
9. Spoon and spread the topping very gently over the top of the cheesecake, being as careful as you can in case you break the surface of the cheesecake. (not that anything bad will happen; you’ll just have chocolate marbling the cake a bit.)
10. Put it in the oven for a final 10 minutes.
11. Once out of the oven, let the cheesecake cool in its tin and then cover and put into the fridge overnight.
12. When you are ready to eat the cheesecake, take it out of the fridge, just to take the chill off: this will make it easier to spring from the tin. don’t let it get too warm, though, as it will become a bit gooey and be hard to slice.

I took the finished one to work for the staff meeting, its such a crowd pleaser. I guarantee if you make it, it will be gone before you can save yourself a piece. 

Also, please let me know if you make anything form here, I love to see things you make so send me a picture. 

Follow me on social media here. Twitter instagram