Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Goo!

I've got a bit of a story behind these cupcakes!

I had some friends round to dinner a few weeks ago and had made some of my 'special' chocolate sauce to go with caramelised bananas and ice cream. However, due to various reasons... (including plastic meltage, and my utter inability to find decent ice cream anywhere!) we decided to go with banoffee pie instead... leaving me with a glut of gooey chocolatey lushness tempting me from the fridge.

My special chocolate sauce is incredibly simple, and sounds a little horrific... but I haven't met anyone yet who doesn't like it. It's perfect for a quick dessert on top of ice cream. Or dip pears in it to pretend you're healthy... ;)

So, the following day I had some bananas going just past ripe and a pot of chocolate goo. Inspired by Dee's banana loaf, I decided to knock together some cupcakes before I went to the pub to meet some friends. And being the good friend that I am, it would have been churlish not to take along a few for them to sample. (Note, banana and chocolate don't go too well with beer ;) So eat 'em first, drink later!)

Anyway, beer drinking tips aside, we were happily sat at the pub and onto our second pint when I remembered about my cupcakes. I handed them out... we had one each... when a guy across the table asked for a taste! As I was feeling slightly sick from all the requisite tasting (see below) I was quite happy to give up mine. Just as well really, as it turns out he has just taken over a nearby cafe and was looking for someone to help out with some real home cooking!

So for the last couple of weeks I've been baking up a storm - and have a whole load of stuff to show you. It's been fun - but I can't tell you how tough it is to bake up a whole gooey chocolate cake, then give it away with barely a taste... Well, except from the bowl, of course! ;)

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes!

• 3 ripe bananas - this is not the place for green or hard nanas!
• 1 cup plain white flour
• 0.5 cups wholewheat flour
• 0.5 cup soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 6 tbsp groundnut oil
• 6 tbsp yogurt
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch salt

Preheat oven to 165c.

Prepare the Batter...
Sift together the flours, baking powder and baking soda, then mix in the salt.

Whisk together the oil and sugar, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Smoosh up the bananas with a fork and add to the egg mixture along with the vanilla extract.

Add a third of the flour mix, then a third of the yogurt and mix until just moistened. Repeat until flour and yogurt finished!

Line muffin tray with cases, and divide the mixture between them.

Bake!
Bake for 15 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of one.


For the 'frosting'...

• 1 tin condensed milk
• 150g plain chocolate
• 1 tbsp butter
  

Put the condensed milk into a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Gently bring to the boil and cook gently for 5 minutes.

Taste a wee bit of the condensed milk to make sure it's ok. Is it? Best check again, just to be sure...

Break up the chocolate and add to the milk. Melt it up until you have a gorgeous gooey chocolatey mess.

Probably should taste it again - make sure it's chocolatey and gooey enough. It is? Sure?? Go on, check again...

Add the butter and stir gently until combined. Have another couple of taste tests. Maybe dip in a strawberry or marshmallow... if you happen to have any lying around...

Let it cool a bit, then smear on top of cooled cupcakes.

There should be some left to have with ice cream. Or straight from the bowl - it's your call ;)

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I'm sending these cupcakes to three events - two of them new ones to me:
Ben's I Love Baking event, and Fanny's Sugar High Friday!

The third is Lore at Culinarty's Original Recipe event!

Scottish Scran 5 - Girdle Scones

After a few days of feeling rather under the weather, I have been comforting myself by cooking up a storm of Scottish comfort food. Mince and tatties, lentil and ham soup, tattie scones... Not a chili in sight for four days - maybe a record for me?!

For a morning snack - still emptying those cupboards - I made these girdle scones - also known as drop scones, Scottish pancakes, griddle scones, drapped scones, scotch pancakes... Girdle is a Scots word for griddle - just in case you were wondering!

They are one of the first things I ever made myself - and also one of the few non savoury things I remember my mum cooking when I was young. Like me, she's always preferred savoury to sweet. One of the other sweet things was rhubarb tart - the only pud my dad will eat!

My favourite way to eat these is hot from the pan, slathered in good butter. Or occasionally with a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar... And once in a while, a daub of nutella. Some people like them with jam and cream - but I think they might just be secretly wishing for a baked scone...

Girdle scones really are best straight after cooking - and only take minutes to make, so there is no excuse!

Check out the rest of my Scottish Scran here!

Girdle Scones

Made about 20 scones!

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• milk to mix, up to 1 cup
• pinch salt

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and mix in the salt and sugar. Make a well in the flour and crack the egg into it, then start incorporating the flour into the egg. Add the milk little by little until you have a thick batter.

Heat a griddle (or frying pan!) to a medium heat and grease with a bit of butter or oil. Add tablespoons of the batter to the pan and cook until bubbles break the surface. This should take less than a minute, but shouldn't start immediately - it might take you a couple of goes to get the temperature just right - it always does for me!

Lightly grease the pan between lots.

I always have mine warm with butter... but a dab of jam, or lemon and sugar would also make good toppings!

Serve warm with a cuppa!

Scottish Word of the Day!

Ok, so it isn't actually a Scottish word - but here's a quick note on the word Scotch!

The word Scotch is actually an English adjective meaning 'of or from Scotland'. It was first recorded in the 16th century, and - despite being an English word - was incorporated into the Scots language in the 17th century,

By the early 19th century scotch was rejected by Scottish people as an Anglicised affectation. It is now pretty much obsolete for general use - and is often considered to be patronising and somewhat offensive.*

There are still some valid uses of scotch though, i.e. Scotch broth, Scotch whisky, Scotch pie, Scotch eggs... and of course, today's treat - Scotch pancakes... Funny how most of them are food and drink!

One more scotch thing... Butterscotch does not originate from Scotland! In this case, scotch comes from the Old French word escocher meaning to cut. So, butterscotch is a sweetie made from butter and usually cut into small pieces!


PS. Don't think it's come up before, but I used to study history - including a year of Scottish history! And I thought it would never come in useful... ;)

* I take this quote by historian A. J. P. Taylor as a point in case! ;)

Some inhabitants of Scotland now call themselves Scots and their affairs Scottish. They are entitled to do so. The English word for both is Scotch, just as we call les français the French and Deutschland Germany. Being English, I use it.

Preface to English History 1914–1945

***

Oh, ok then. I can't leave you with out a real Scottish word of the day... so here's a handful for you to decipher yourself!

Since ah've been no weel, ah've been awfy peely-wally an' feelin' fair puggled a' the time. An' a hud tae miss ma pal's pairty which wuz a right scunner: ah'd been looking forrit to a bit o' a swally!

Royal Foodie Joust: Lime Raspberry Stuffed Cupcakes

Hmmm... I really can't think of a good name for these cupcakes! Raspberry lime cupcake surprise? Marzipan, Lime and Raspberry cupcakes?? Lime and Raspberry Marzicupcakes??? I give up, and apologise for the unimaginative title!

This is my entry to the Royal Foodie Joust, hosted by newly-wed Jenn over at The Leftover Queen. This month's challenge was to use limes, raspberries and almonds. And for some reason I had a total mind blank! I don't usually do sweet - and no savoury inspiration was forth-coming... Until last week, when I thought about making some marzipan from scratch... which made me think of almonds... then the joust... and in the space of an hour I had this recipe pretty much planned!

Now, as I mentioned I don't usually do much with sweet foods - I even had to go out and buy a muffin pan! But now that I have had a go and realised it isn't so scary (and it's a shame to let my shiny new bakeware go to waste ;), I have some more muffin/cup cakes recipes just desperate to be tried. My work mates will be pleased too - they got to eat the fruits of this experiment!

Lime Raspberry Stuffed Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes!

• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 small pot raspberry yoghurt
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup of frozen raspberries
• 250g ground almonds
• 250g icing sugar
• 4 limes
• Raspberry jam
• Icing sugar to make frosting

Prepare the Marzipan...
Sift the almonds and sugar into a bowl (I was feeling lazy again, so used my processor!) Mix in one beaten egg and the zest of two limes and mix to a stiff dough. If the dough is too dry mix in some of the lime juice - if it is too dry add some lime juice to moisten, if it's too wet add some more icing sugar. Knead for a couple of minutes, wrap tightly in clingfilm and put into the fridge overnight.

Make the Marzipan Discs...
Take about a third* of the chilled marzipan onto a surface lightly floured with icing sugar. Roll it out to be about 3mm deep. Spread with raspberry jam and roll up like a swiss roll. I ran into some difficulty here as the marzipan was stuck to my board - so I'd recommend rolling it out on greaseproof paper that has been 'floured' with icing sugar :)

Ideally put these rolls back in the fridge to chill before slicing them into 4-5mm thick rounds just before you use them!

Make the Cupcake Batter...
Again, I used my processor with the dough hook attached to make these - no idea if that was the best thing to use - but they turned out as expected so can't have been too bad!

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and pulse lightly til the butter looks like very large bread crumbs.

In a separate bowl mix together the milk, yoghurt, vanilla extract and 2 eggs. Once mixed add into the flour mixture in two goes - being careful not to over-mix it! Add the raspberries, give it a stir and we're good to go!

Prepare the cupcakes...
Pre-heat oven to 170c & line a muffin tray with paper cases.

Place a tablespoonful of batter into each case, then lay a marzipan/jam round into each one. Divide the rest of the batter equally between the cases.

Bake for about 20 minutes - they should feel firm to the touch (Note that the skewer test will be skewed (groan!) as the marzipan centre will make it look unclean even if the batter is properly cooked.

Cool on a wire rack.

Decorate!
Mix 6 tablespoons of icing sugar with just enough lime juice to make a very thick paste. Mix in some raspberry jam to make it pretty and pink! (I had to sieve my jam first to get out the seeds...)

Top each cupcake with a spoonful of icing sugar, a couple of almonds and a marzipan disc!







* that's all you need for this recipe. I should probably have decreased the recipe more. Lime zest marzipan is good though - so I'm sure you'll think up some use for it!