Saturday 27 October 2012

vanilla fudge

This is more of a crumbly, old fashioned, fudge than the squishy cubes they seem to mass produce these days. For any Scottish readers, almost Tablet, but not quite...
 (I only wanted to make a small amount to try so this is half quantity of the recipe I adapted, just double up if you want to make more)



225g Caster Sugar
45g Dairy free spread
160ml can Coconut cream (just tried it with oat cream too, not quite the same creaminess, but good alternative if you can't use coconut - and once cold, set very hard...)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Paste


  1. Put sugar, spread, and coconut cream into a heavy based pan and heat gently, stirring frequently, until the sugar has dissolved. Do not boil until sugar completely dissolved.
  2. Bring to the boil without stirring.
  3. Continue boiling (stirring occasionally to stop it sticking and burning) until a temperature of 116°C (240°F) is reached on a sugar thermometer. If you don't have one of these, you can test if the fudge is at this temperature by spooning a small amount of the syrup into some iced water, it should form a soft ball.
  4. Remove the pan from the heat, add the vanilla extract and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until thickened.
  5. Pour a tray lined with lightly oiled foil, and leave for 10-15 mins or until almost set. It will set quicker in the fridge (if making larger quantity you can just use an oiled square tin and get nice neat sides).
  6. Mark the fudge into squares with a sharp knife and leave to cool completely.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Toffee Apple Cake


With National Apple Day this weekend, seemed like a good excuse to do something a little more exciting than stewed apples and custard. This is roughly (very roughly) adapted from a recipe in this months (November 2012) BBC Good Food Magazine. The basic gingerbread recipe I've now made a couple of times using Dove's farm white bread flour and Orgran All Purpose Plain Flour without having to adjust the fluid. I love a basic recipe you can adapted lots of ways, have now done this as gingerbread, banana cake (for mini monsters birthday cake) and now toffee apple cake. Don't be afraid to experiment! Be warned, this is a very wet batter and looks as if it won't work!

3 Eating Apples
30g Caster Sugar (melted to form a caramel - how to video ) or light muscovado sugar to sprinkle
75g Dairy and Soya Free Spread
60g Caster Sugar
200g Golden Syrup (or 100g syrup plus 100g caramelised sugar as above)
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1tsp Vanilla Paste (or extract)
100mls Milk Substitute
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
150g Plain Flour or Wheat Free Plain Flour
1 tsp Egg Replacer 

Thinly slice 2 of the apples and pour over caramel (or sugar), stir and set aside (the moisture from the apples will stop the caramel setting).

Melt sugar, syrup and dairy free spread gently in a pan until dissolved and leave to cool slightly.

Add vanilla, cinnamon and milk substitute to syrup mixture.

Grate remaining apple into a bowl and mix with the rest of the dry ingredients.

Stir in syrup mixture until well combined.

Pour into greased, lined tin (approx 18x25cm)

Top with apple slices and pour over remaining caramel/sugar.

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 180ÂșC.



Serve with Oat Cream, Custard, Toffee sauce (see sticky toffee pudding recipe), or natural yogurt (CoYo or Wot No Dairy).