Homemade Iced Hazelnut / Caramel Latte

It's well known that during pregnancy some women develop cravings and others gain an aversion to foods they previously liked. I didn't really experience either so it was quite a surprise when I developed a post-natal taste for coffee.

I've never been a coffee drinker, unless you count a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato with extra cream, which to me never tasted much like regular coffee as it was so sweet and deliciously caramel-y.. I did occasionally self-medicate with a coffee when I felt extremely tired but it wasn't something I particularly enjoyed drinking. But since having baby S five months ago, I've sometimes found myself swapping my breakfast cup of tea for a coffee, and I've recently gotten an expensive habit of ordering the 250ml bottles of Starbucks Coffee Frappucino in caramel flavour from Tesco when I get my groceries delivered, which at £1.80 a pop soon adds up.

It must be possible to make something similar myself, I thought... a little bit of experimentation later and I've found the perfect iced latte drink to enjoy during the hot summer weather. I made it with hazelnut flavour as that's what I already had in the house, but it would be amazing with caramel, vanilla or any other flavour you want to try.

You need:
ice cubes
coffee - instant works perfectly and makes this super quick to make
Monin hazelnut syrup for coffee (or any other flavour) - see below
cold milk



Make a strong cup of coffee using two teaspoons of instant coffee.

Fill whatever drinking vessel you want to use - I used a cute little jam jar style glass with a straw that I got from Tiger - half full with ice cubes.

Pour over the hot coffee so the glass is half full - the ice cubes will start to melt but this actually makes the coffee the exact right temperature, once you add the milk. Add your flavoured syrup and then top up the glass with milk. Stir and enjoy!

Coffee Cupcakes with Chocolate-Covered Coffee Beans

Coffee is not one of my favourite flavours; I generally dislike coffee cake and I don't drink coffee apart from on rare occasions. But in the hot weather we had recently I started craving iced coffee and even went to Starbucks for a Frappucino one time, something I haven't done in years.

How do I get from that to cake? Well, I found out at short notice that the front-of-house team were holding a bake sale in the lobby of my work building for Battersea Cats and Dogs Home. I love baking and I love cats (dogs too, but cats more!) so I wanted to lend a hand.

I needed to bake something that wouldn't take too long, that had ingredients I already had in the house, but also a cake that would last well in the heat and be something to tempt people on a hot summer's day.

 

I had a packet of chocolate-covered coffee beans in the cupboard from a recent Degustabox which I thought would be great on the top of cupcakes - which then had to be coffee.

I used a recipe from 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' though I switched out the espresso powder as I didn't have any, for some strong coffee made from instant granules; I also used the same brown sugar rather than splitting the quantities between demerara and light brown sugar as advised. This is what I did:

Makes about a dozen cupcakes:
110g butter, softened, or margarine
130g light brown sugar
2 eggs
120g self-raising flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
50ml strong coffee
75ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

to decorate:
150g butter, softened, or margarine
350g icing sugar
1 tbsp. strong coffee made from instant granules
chocolate-covered coffee beans to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C or 160C fan. Cream together the butter and the sugar and mix in the eggs. Fold in the flour, vanilla, coffee and milk and combine until thoroughly mixed.

Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases in a muffin or cupcake tin and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Allow to cool on a cooling rack.

To make the buttercream beat the butter with the icing sugar and mix in the coffee. Spread on top of the cooled cupcakes and swirl with a flat palette knife; place a couple of chocolate-covered coffee beans on top of each cupcake.

 

I'm sending this to Treat Petite hosted by Kat at Baking Explorer

Winter Hot Drinks - Mulled Cider, Ribena, Hazelnut and Pistachio Coffee

This time of year a hot drink is lovely but tea and coffee doesn't always quite hit the mark. I've tried a couple of things recently that I want to share with you, which have varying levels of difficulty!

First of all I can definitely recommend a hot chocolate with marshmallows floating on top - whipped cream isn't even really necessary in my opinion. The best hot chocolates are the ones you make from chocolate flakes and heating a pan of milk - but at a push, cocoa powder and boiling water will do!

Next, I came across a new flavour of Ribena called Winter Spice. I'm not entirely sure what the spices are, since reading the ingredients, there's actually nothing I recognise as an actual spice. But it does contain 35% blackcurrant juice from concentrate, which is the main thing.

The suggestion on the bottle is to drink Ribena Winter Spice hot; I tried it both hot and cold. It is nice - a little reminiscent of mulled wine but sweeter and fruitier and particularly when drunk hot, does conjure up a bit of a festive atmosphere. Having said that, in my opinion it isn't anywhere near as nice as regular Ribena, which I really like!

 

Speaking of hot drinks, I was sent a packet of Schwartz mulled cider spice to review. They are like little tea bags - you get six in the box and they cost as little as £1 (current price in Tesco). The spice is a blend of allspice, orange peel, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; you do need to buy cider to go with it then you put 1 litre of dry cider, 2 tbsp. brown sugar and 2 sachets of Schwartz mulled cider spice in a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for ten minutes, and remove the sachets to serve.

 

I had to wait quite a long time until the cider was cool enough to drink but it was really rather nice; I preferred it to the hot Ribena and the spices brought out the apple flavour of the cider well. It would be a good drink to serve at parties, garnished with apple slices.

 

 

Finally I had a coffee in the canteen at work from their menu of special Christmas drinks that I liked so much I decided to make a version of at home (I don't even drink coffee normally!). I had a packet of Nescafe Coffee Choca Mocha in the cupboard - individual sachets - though of course you can use normal coffee.

I made up the coffee and added a shot of Monin hazelnut flavour coffee syrup, then whipped some cream which I piped on top with a star nozzle. I sprinkled the top with chopped pistachios and drizzled over a swirl of Choc Shot liquid chocolate. It was delicious!

Tiramisu Cupcakes - coffee cakes for people who don't like coffee

These cupcakes taste just like the real thing - like you are eating tiramisu!

I made them for a family party with my in-laws; my mother-in-law and husband both love coffee cake but I really don't like it. I wondered if there was a way I could incorporate coffee into a cake so it would still be enjoyed by someone who doesn't like coffee; I've got a great recipe for chocolate cake that uses coffee as one of the ingredients to give depth of flavour but it doesn't actually taste of coffee at all. Then I remembered a dessert that I love, that uses coffee - tiramisu!

The Marks & Spencer recipe book 'Easy Cupcakes' has some really imaginative recipes - it's a very good little book that I've had for about five years but only used a handful of times. It has a recipe for tiramisu cupcakes - in true Caroline style, I didn't read the ingredients list properly and was half way through before I remembered I didn't have any masala or sweet sherry, but I did have crème de cacao and this worked perfectly. Here's what you need to do: the recipe says this makes 12 but I only got 8 (large) cupcakes out of it.

You need:
115g unsalted butter or baking spread like Stork
115g light brown sugar
2 eggs
115g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp coffee granules
25g icing sugar
4 tbsp. water
for the frosting:
225g mascarpone cheese
85g caster sugar
2 tbsp. marsala or sweet sherry, or in my case crème de cacao
cocoa for dusting

Preheat oven to 180C. Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, flour and baking powder in a bowl until smooth and creamy and spoon into paper cup cases in a muffin tin.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and firm to the touch.

Place the coffee granules, icing sugar and water in a pan and heat gently until the coffee and icing sugar have dissolved. Boil for one minute then allow to cool.

Brush the coffee syrup over the top of each cupcake while the cupcakes are still warm. Then leave the cakes to cool.

For the frosting, beat the mascarpone, icing sugar and masala in a bowl and spread on top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle with a pinch of cocoa powder.

These cupcakes tasted gorgeous - just like eating tiramisu!

I'm sharing these with Treat Petite, hosted by Kat at the Baking Explorer and Stuart at Cakeyboi.

 

Charlotte at Charlotte's Lively Kitchen runs a blog challenge called the Food Calendar and there are several things happening this month that these cupcakes would be great for, including National Cupcake Week from Sept 12-18, International Coffee Day and the Macmillan Coffee Morning.

Slimming World Cappuccino Mousse

Lots of people will start diets or be watching their weight after a blow-out Christmas in January so it seems a good time of year to share a few recipes inspired by Slimming World and other low-fat recipes. This is based on a recipe for Cappucino Pots in the Slimming World book 'Love Desserts'; I've changed it a little and since the texture is like a mousse, I've called it a Cappuccino Mousse.

I made this last year but have only now got around to blogging it; I made it at my boyfriend's mum's house because I knew she had a bottle of Camp chicory and coffee essence; as you only need a spoonful it saved me buying a whole bottle of my own.

To serve 4, you need:
2 tsp powdered gelatine or the equivalent in leaf form (see packet)
5 tbsp. fat free Greek style yogurt
5 tbsp. Quark
1 tbsp. coffee essence eg Camp
3 tbsp. sweetener
2 egg whites
1 tsp cocoa powder (optional)

Using this recipe it works out at less than 1 syn per portion.

Dissolve the gelatine in 2 tbsp. boiling water or according to packet instructions.

In a bowl mix the yogurt, Quark, coffee essence and sweetener. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.

Mix the gelatine in to the yogurt mixture then fold in the egg whites. Spoon into a serving dish or four individual dishes and chill for at least two hours.

When you are ready to serve, sprinkle the cocoa powder over the top.

 

 

I'm not a big fan of coffee flavour but I really enjoyed this dessert. It's a good low fat option if you are craving something sweet and looks far more indulgent than it is!

 

Vegan Tiramisu

Tiramisu's main ingredient is mascarpone cheese, so I wouldn't have thought you could make a vegan version - but apparently you can! I wanted a vegan dessert for when I had friends over before Christmas; I made an eggnog cheesecake as well but also needed something suitable for vegans. I recently bought a recipe book called Sweet Vegan by Emily Mainquist, which I've been using quite a lot lately, and was intrigued by the recipe for tiramisu. Instead of sponge fingers you bake a dairy-free cake and instead of mascarpone cheese you use tofu!

I did adapt the recipe slightly; as with other ones I've made from this book it suggests using evaporated cane juice but I used caster sugar instead. I used white wine vinegar instead of cider vinegar as that was all I had, and I left out the marsala - I know it's a traditional part of tiramisu but I thought this dessert might be eaten by a child (but I also made some Frozen cupcakes and in the end she had those instead!). I also used self-raising flour rather than plain flour and baking powder as it was one less thing to do! Finally I found that the quantity of coffee given was far too much - perhaps I didn't soak my sponge as much as I should have, but I only used about a third of the coffee I made up, so I have adjusted the quantity in this recipe below accordingly.

You need:
For the cake:
225g vegan margarine e.g. Pure
225g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla flavouring
390g self-raising flour
6 tsp egg replacer, whisked with 8 tbsp. warm water
240ml soya milk
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
for the coffee filling:
200ml strong coffee
for the 'cream cheese' filling:
85g vegan margarine e.g Pure
225g soft tofu at room temperature
600g icing sugar
30g plain chocolate, grated (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a loaf tin.

Beat the vegan margarine for the cake with the sugar and vanilla extract. Mix the egg replacer with the warm water and combine this in a jug with the soya milk and vinegar.

Alternate adding the wet ingredients and the flour to the cake mixture. Make sure everything is well combined then scrape into the loaf tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool then turn out onto a wire rack and leave until fully cooled.

Make up the coffee and leave to cool.

To make the filling, beat the vegan margarine, tofu and vanilla extract until smooth. Slowly mix in the icing sugar and mix until well combined.

Slice the cake into three layers and place one layer in the bottom of the loaf tin. Pour over 1/3 of the coffee and when it has soaked in, spoon 1/3 of the tofu mixture on top.

Repeat with the next layer of cake until you have used all the cake, coffee and tofu mixture. Finish the top layer with tofu and sprinkle with a little grated plain vegan chocolate if desired.

Chill in the fridge until firm. Cut into slices to serve.

I really wasn't sure what this was going to taste like given I'd replaced mascarpone cheese with tofu but it was really good - very sweet from all the icing sugar, but actually a lovely creamy dessert that vegans and non-vegans alike enjoyed.

Christmas Wreath Cake: Dairy-free Vegan Bundt with Hot Chocolate Sauce

This was the final part of my Thanksgiving dinner - you may have seen my earlier posts on the turkey meatloaf, vegan lentil loaf, sweet potato with marshmallows, vegan pumpkin cheesecake and now this.

It's vegan but tastes like any chocolate cake - that is, any moist and delicious chocolate cake! I decorated it with royal icing and though I did it for Thanksgiving I think it looks a bit like a Christmas wreath so is very festive.

I served this simply as a cake after the meal, but as we had quite a lot left afterwards, I made a hot chocolate sauce which really made this cake into something else.

I based it on a recipe in Sweet Vegan by Emily Mainquist but I used caster sugar instead of evaporated cane juice (I couldn't get any but didn't need it, as in the UK the main brands of caster sugar are vegan) and I didn't make the chocolate ganache to decorate. I also made it into a bundt rather than a layer cake.

You need:
230g self-raising flour
300g caster sugar
75g cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
240ml strong coffee, cooled
120ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar mixed with 240ml soya milk
3 tsp egg replacer, mixed with 4 tbsp. warm water

Preheat oven to 180C and spray a bundt tin with Cake Release.
Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt with an electric mixer. In a separate jug, mix the cooled coffee, oil, soya milk and vinegar. Pour this gradually into the dry ingredients, folding in as you go. Add the prepared egg replacer and mix in until you have a smooth, fairly runny batter.

Pour into the bundt tin and bake for about 40-45 minutes, testing with a skewer to make sure it is cooked in the middle.

Allow to cool in the tin then turn out onto a wire rack.

Place on a serving plate

Decorate with royal icing, made up to pack instructions, and a sprig of holly or anything else seasonal, such as pomegranate seeds or cranberries.

I made a hot chocolate sauce to go with this. Melt 200g chocolate and 100g butter in a small pan then stir in 2 tbsp. golden syrup (you can use a vegan butter substitute if preferred). When the chocolate is melted and the sauce is smooth and glossy, pour over slices of the cake and enjoy.

I'm sharing this with Ness at Jibber Jabber UK for her Love Cake challenge as the theme this month is December treats and you can make this cake quite festive.

 I'm also sending this to Family Foodies, hosted by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash, and on alternate months Louisa at Eat Your Veg as the theme is festive food.

 

Opera Gateau

I have wanted to make an opera gateau for a while (before it was shown on the recent Great British Bake Off!) and thought my dad's birthday at the end of September would be a good opportunity. It strikes me as slightly more masculine somehow than a sponge cake - perhaps because of the dark chocolate and coffee colours, or the fact that the layers are (supposed to be) neat and precise - this is a cake without frills or fuss but that packs a lot of punch. In fact my mum said this was one of the best cakes she had ever had!

I found this recipe on the Marie Curie website ahead of their charity bake sale. I only found out afterwards that the sponge layers in an opera gateau should contain ground almonds and this recipe does not use any - I wonder perhaps if that is because many people are allergic to nuts and the charity wanted to make sure the recipes they suggested would be suitable for everyone. If I made it again I would try an opera gateau recipe with ground almonds, but nonetheless I was very pleased with the way this turned out. It is a little fiddly and takes a while to make but it is worth it.

You need:
For the sponge:
40g instant coffee granules (this is a lot so I was dubious but it worked)
85ml hot water
9 eggs, separated (again an awful lot and I was tempted to halve it, but don't - this makes enough to serve about 9 people and isn't actually as big a cake as you might think).
275g plain chocolate
185g caster sugar

For the coffee buttercream:
125g butter, softened
250g icing sugar, sifted
about 1-2 tbsp strong coffee (or use a dash of coffee extract)

For the chocolate ganache:
375g plain chocolate
500ml double cream
150g Nutella or similar
4 egg yolks
50g caster sugar


The recipe also included instructions for making a chocolate glaze for the top but I had enough of the ganache left that I used that on top instead.

First make the sponge layers. Preheat the oven to 180C and dissolve the coffee in the hot water in a large mixing bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or a bain marie.

Separate the eggs and beat the yolks into the cooled coffee, and stir in the melted chocolate.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until you have stiff peaks then fold into the chocolate mixture.

I used a square tin for this recipe as when I have seen opera gateau it has been sliced into rectangles. You need to make three sponge cakes out of this mixture, and as I only have one square tin, I had to bake in three batches. Grease and line the tin and spoon a third of the cake mixture in; it will look shallow but it is supposed to.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool. If you don't need to use the same tin again it is easier to leave the cake in the tin to cool; as it is thin it is quite fragile when it is only just cooked.

Meanwhile make the ganache. Use 210ml of the double cream and heat in a small pan. Break up the chocolate and add to the cream, stirring until it has melted - do not let the cream boil.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together and add to the chocolate then whisk in the Nutella.

Whisk the rest of the double cream and then fold into the chocolate mixture. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally until spreadable. I was a bit worried my ganache was too runny so I put it in the fridge for an hour before using.

To make the coffee buttercream, cream the butter and icing sugar together and add the coffee liquid and beat in.

Finally when the cake is cool you can assemble it. Do this on a cake board or serving plate as you won't want to pick up and move the cake once you have finished! Place one of your three cakes on the board as the bottom layer, and spread over half of the coffee buttercream. Then carefully spread over one third of the chocolate ganache.

I actually did this the other way around - ganache first, then buttercream, as suggested by the recipe, but my buttercream was a lot stiffer than the ganache which made it a bit difficult. Depending on how your ganache has turned out, you could do it either way around.

Gently place the next layer of sponge on top and repeat with the rest of the buttercream and another 1/3 of the ganache.

Place the last layer of sponge on top and spread with the remaining ganache.

 I then refridgerated the whole thing overnight, as I knew it would have plenty of time to come back to room temperature the next day - we were driving from London to Southampton to have lunch with my family and then eating the cake in the afternoon.

 I also decided it would be easier to slice into rectangles right after it came out of the fridge in the morning. It traveled really well and was absolutely delicious - worth the lengthy process!

Since then of course I have seen the Great British Bake Off where there were some great versions of an opera gateau, including the eventual winner Frances' Soap Opera gateau. Mine is more traditional but I was very happy with it!

I am sending this to Alphabakes - which I am hosting this month - as the letter I have chosen is O.