Cherry Pie Tray Bake

The humble tray bake. I love all tray bakes. This one is special though. In fact, this one is particularly special. I love Cherry Pie, and Cherry Bakewells, and of course cake, so why not combine them! This is great on it's own, warmed with custard, or a big blob of ice cream!

Ingredients
350g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
300g light brown sugar
250g unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 pouch of Natures Finest Morello Cherry Fruit Filling (or 300g cherry jam)
Icing sugar, made with almond extract and water, to glaze (optional)


First thing is first, the filing for this gorgeous traybake. This is what I used, and I got it from my local Sainsburys Supermarket, down the aisle with the tinned fruit.

Now, I used a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment to make this mix, however you could just use a bowl and whisk or wooden spoon, and it would do exactly the same job. 

First, you need to get pop your oven on, 180C, 160C fan, or Gas Mark 4, and grease a 9x13 inch pan with butter, line with parchment paper at the bottom, grease this and coat the inside of the pan with a little bit of flour. Like so: 

Now cream together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy, this should take a few minutes. Then add your eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the pan between additions. Now add your vanilla and almond extracts, and then your flour, baking powder and salt. Mix this all together until everything is just combined. 

It should be thicker than a cake mix, but not a dough. 

Next, tip 2/3 of the dough into your prepared pan and press into an even layer. I used a spatula for this, and it should look something like this:

Now pop your fruit filling on top of this, and spread it evenly over your mix. Now, using a teaspoon, dollop spoonfuls of the remaining mix on top of the fruit filling. It may, or it may not, resemble this:

All you need to do now is pop it in the oven for approx 40 minutes, or until golden. You can leave this to cool in the tin, before making a glaze with some icing sugar, water and a touch of almond extract, which you just drizzle over. Now it should (hopefully) look something like this:

Now, all you need to to is slice, and decide how you are going to demolish it! A bake this size cuts into 15 large squares, however if you are making these as bitesize, then you could easily get 30 portions. 

Now put the kettle on, and have a slice! 

From Cups to Grams, a helpful guide!

So, anyone else have this issue? I have a pile of cook books with cup measurements. And yet using cups as measurements frightens me!

This is silly really. Our neighbors over the pond have simply made the act of weighing out ingredients a much easier task. You can purchase a set of measuring cups on my website theshirebakery for only £1.99.

However, if, like me, sometimes you like to have all available options, fear not. I have put together a little chart to help. And it may help with some of the ingredients you sometimes see that you may be slightly confused about.

The main thing to bear in mind, is that a cup, is 250ml. I have a cup at home (just a regular run of the mill cup) so you could just use one of these. As long as it is filled and level you can't go wrong.

But, for those of us who like a good old metric measurement, here goes:

All-Purpose Flour and Confectioners' Sugar (Plain Flour and Icing Sugar)
1/8 cup = 15 grams
1/4 cup = 30 grams
 1/3 cup = 40 grams
 3/8 cup = 45 grams
 1/2 cup = 60 grams
 5/8 cup = 70 grams
 2/3 cup = 75 grams
 3/4 cup = 85 grams
 7/8 cup = 100 grams
1 cup = 110 grams

Brown Sugar
 1/8 cup = 25 grams
1/4 cup = 50 grams
1/3 cup = 65 grams 3/8 cup = 75 grams
 1/2 cup = 100 grams
 5/8 cup = 125 grams
 2/3 cup = 135 grams
 3/4 cup = 150 grams
 7/8 cup = 175 grams
 1 cup = 200 grams

 Butter or Margarine 
1/8 cup = 30 grams
1/4 cup = 55 grams
1/3 cup = 75 grams
3/8 cup = 85 grams
1/2 cup = 115 grams
5/8 cup = 140 grams
2/3 cup = 150 grams
 3/4 cup = 170 grams
 7/8 cup = 200 grams
 1 cup = 225 grams

 Cake Flour (Self Raising Flour)
 1/8 cup = 10 grams
 1/4 cup = 20 grams
 1/3 cup = 25 grams
 3/8 cup = 30 grams
 1/2 cup = 50 grams
 5/8 cup = 60 grams
 2/3 cup = 65 grams
 3/4 cup = 70 grams
 7/8 cup = 85 grams
 1 cup = 95 grams

Cocoa
1/8 cup = 15 grams
1/4 cup = 30 grams
1/3 cup = 40 grams
3/8 cup = 45 grams
1/2 cup = 60 grams
5/8 cup = 70 grams
2/3 cup = 75 grams
3/4 cup = 85 grams
7/8 cup = 100 grams
1 cup = 125 grams

Granulated Sugar
1/8 cup = 30 grams
1/4 cup = 55 grams
1/3 cup = 75 grams
3/8 cup = 85 grams
1/2 cup = 115 grams
5/8 cup = 140 grams
2/3 cup = 150 grams
3/4 cup = 170 grams
7/8 cup = 200 grams
1 cup = 225 grams


Ground Almonds
1/8 cup = 20 grams
1/4 cup = 40 grams
1/3 cup = 55 grams
3/8 cup = 65 grams
1/2 cup = 85 grams
5/8 cup = 105 grams
2/3 cup = 110 grams
3/4 cup = 130 grams
7/8 cup = 150 grams
1 cup = 170 grams

I also took the liberty of making a PDF File of this, which I am more than happy to email out to anyone who would like a copy, to print out and have by your cookbooks. Just email me: carly@theshirebakery.com

So, if you simply cannot trust the cup, use this guide!

Happy Baking xx

Bake Your Own House Husband (and no chill, no spread cookie dough)

And here he is. What a beauty of a cookie! Talya over at Niion UK asked me to write a blog on their fab new range of cookie cutters, which you can buy on Amazon and Ebay. And I thought I would jump at the chance, and also show you the recipe I have for a no chilling and no spreading simple sugar cookie dough, that tastes fab!

So, this greeted me a few weeks ago when I came in one afternoon. A Bake Your Own House Husband Cookie cutter. Lovely!

Most wives and girlfriends moan about how nice it would be to have some help around the house. A bake your own husband is the perfect way to give them just that. Whizz up a mix, add everything you need, pop him in the oven and tah-dah, the perfect handy man, who leaves no lady unsatisfied. He is tasty!!

What I personally liked about these house husband cookies is that you can  bite their heads off at any given moment. Or dismember them, whatever you prefer.

So, onto the cookie ingredients. There was a perfectly good recipe on the back of this cookie cutter, however I thought I would use a one that someone gave me a little while back, that has worked without fail every time.

Ingredients

210g butter
200g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract if you have no paste to hand)
1 large egg
430g plain flour

I got 10 men out of this mix, I also made some smaller shapes with the scraps, as I hate to waste anything!

First thing is first. You need to preheat your oven to 200 degrees, 180 if using a fan oven, or gas mark 6. Line your baking trays (I used 2 large ones) with greaseproof paper and put to one side.

In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, and then add your vanilla bean paste and egg, and beat well.

Now add the flour and work this mixture together into a dough.  When this is done, divide your dough into 2-3 portions. It is much easier to work with smaller sizes. Knead the dough very lightly, on a floured surface until it is smooth, and not so sticky. If it still feels sticky, sprinkle a little more flour on the dough.

Now roll onto a lightly floured surface and cut your biscuits out. Like so:

The lads are looking good already!

Now, to keep the shape, use a palette knife to get your men (or whichever shape you choose to use) from the floured surface and onto the baking tray.

Now, simply pop in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly golden in colour. When these are cooked, simply transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To decorate. Now I am not so good with Royal Icing and the whole flooding thing, and I wanted this to resemble something that did not look like it was made by a toddler. Which trust me, it would have done!

So, the old faithful fondant icing came out. I used the same Bake Your Own House Husband cutter, and cut out a thinly rolled piece of fondant icing. I stuck this with some glace icing, but you can use buttercream, edible glue, jam, etc. Now, the same palette knife trick comes in handy here. If you try to use your fingers you can guarantee you will stretch the icing, or tear it, and you will want to bite his pretty little head off before you have even dressed him up!

Now simply stick him on the cookie, and let him rest for a half hour or so.

Now, for the decorating. You can feel free to do exactly what you wish to do with him now. I used some gel colours, mixed with a tiny amount of water, and hand painted him. Again, art is not my strong point, so you must forgive me. I know there is some room for improvement, however as it stands, I like him!

And I also liked this cookie cutter. Lots. He is coming out for lots of outings with me. I have a few hen nights planned this year, and I am sure these cookies would go down a treat at every single one of them.

If you would like to buy yourself a cookie cutter, you can find him, and a few more options, one being a Bake Your Own Boyfriend, on either Amazon or Ebay, for £3.60 each. And boy, he is worth it!

So grab yours now, and get baking!!