Dr. Oetker Bake In The Box

Easter holidays are starting tomorrow, and you might be making plans on what to do with children for 17 school-free days. If you travel far to warmer climes, I wish you a safe journey. If you stay at home like us, then we have to come up with contingency plans for any weather.
On a rainy day, how about a baking session with children? Either make a cake from scratch, or take it easy and use a cake mix.

Have you seen a new range of Dr Oetker Bake in the Box loaf cake mixes?
They come in three delicious flavours - Lemon & Poppy seed, Banana & Choc Chip and Double Chocolate.
They are top notch easy bakes and cakes. You just add milk to the cake mix which comes in a pouch inside the box, and bake in the box itself, so there is no need for any extra prep or washing.
The cakes are baked beautifully inside the cardboard boxes, and it takes just about half an hour from the start to finish.
Imagine you have surprise guests and would love to treat them to something sweet. What could be easier?

The first cake mix we tried was Banana & Choc Chip, as selected by my elder son, as he loves banana bakes and choc chips too.

You don't need to add anything but milk to the cake mix, but I always jazz up any cake mix I buy.
I added 1 egg to each cake mix and 1-2tbsp melted butter or oil, and a little bit of something like a few chopped chocolate buttons.
This is what a raw banana cake looks like, just before going into the oven.

You need to take the cake out after 10 minutes of baking to score a neat middle, but if you don't mind slightly wonky, off-side cakes, then don't worry if you forget to do it.
Here is the baked result. You need to carefully open the box to take the cake out.

The banana cake was sweet and fluffy. My children loved it. I still think that a banana bread made with fresh mashed bananas has a superior taste, but don't scorn this little bake. It's lovely with a cup of tea. 

The next cake mix to test was a Lemon & Poppy Seed. I love this combination of flavours, and this cake was my top choice of the three.

I added 1 egg, 1tbsp of mild olive oil, zest of 1 lemon and 1tbsp of lemon juice.
I also made a thin icing from the icing sugar mixed with lemon juice and decorated the cake with mini jellies.
As you can see, I haven't scored the cake in time, so it split in the middle on its own accord.

It was zingy, light, lemony and with a nice addition of poppy seeds. A real winner.

And finally the chocolate cake... I've added 1tbsp of oil, 1 medium egg and 1 heaped tbsp of chocolate hazelnut spread (like Nutella, only less sugary).

We've decorated the cake with Dr Oetker Unicorn Chips, which look very pretty. As we were putting them on top of a still pretty warm cake, the chips started to melt.

It was a moist, very chocolatey cake. Judging by how quickly it disappeared - it didn't last 24 hours - this was the best cake, according to my family.

Have you tried any of the new Dr Oetker Bake in the Box cakes?

Disclosure: I received three boxes of cake mix for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are our own.

'Hippy dinners' and a lemon drizzle cake

Abbie Ross, the author of Hippy Dinners, is a couple of years younger than me, but our memories of the 1970s couldn't be more different. I grew up in the Soviet Union, under the Communist regime.
Abbie's parents moved to rural North Wales from London, swapping a town house in Islington for a farmhouse on a hill. Our childhood realities and backgrounds were completely different.
What we share perhaps is the sense of powerlessness of being a child and a wish to conform, to be like the others.
It was in my pre-teens and teen years that I strived to be different. But when I was in primary school, I liked to be like everyone else. We were also quite brainwashed with this notion, in the nursery and school. Individuality was not encouraged.
I was a big city girl, and detested my parents taking us away for a month to stay at our grandparents' houses in the middle of nowhere, in the Russian steppes. There were fun times of course, like trips to the river, but mostly I resented being away from the "civilization". The geese who started honking at the ungodly early hours annoyed me, I didn't like the smells etc. I'm afraid I was not a countryside girl. To escape it all, I'd spend hours in the hammock in the garden with a book.
So, while Abbie's memoirs have not much in common with my life in the 1970s, I could relate to her in many ways. When we are children, we are completely dependent on the decisions our parents take. We have to follow their choices, whether we agree with them or not.
Abbie's parents chose to live in a rural environment, escaping all the chaos of the city life. Abbie's disapproval of her mother's taste in food and clothes is palpable years later. And then there is a constant dread that her near-hippy parents would abandon their house altogether and move in with the hippy commune. It didn't help that the hippy commune dwellers were all bonkers, and quite irresponsible.
The narrative is a set of stories or novellas, which are inter-laced and share the characters, but tell a new story in each chapter.
There are wonderfully conventional Liverpudlian grandparents who disapprove of the life their children and grandchildren live.
There are delightfully bizarre friends of Abbie, some touchingly vulnerable, some alarmingly bossy bordering on horribly unpleasant.
The book is very warm and a great pleasure to read.

There were quite a few contenders for #ReadCookEat recipe recreation in this book. I didn't quite fancy "hippy dinners", and decided to cook a lemon drizzle cake. It is Abbie's Nana who baked this cake in the book.
I don't know the exact recipe which Nana used for her lemon drizzle cake, and I guess it might have been baked in a loaf tin rather then round-shaped, but I hope little Abbie would have approved of my version too.

Lemon drizzle cake
Ingredients:
2 lemons, zest and juice
120g butter, softened
200g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
150g self-raising flour
50g cornflour
4tbsp milk
for icing:
6 heaped tbsp icing sugar
lemon juice (about 2/3 of a lemon)
Dr Oetker lemon meringue sprinkles.

In a medium bowl beat together the zest of 2 lemons with the softened butter and caster sugar. Add the eggs, and mix together. Then add the flour and cornflour, a bit of milk and juice of 1 lemon. Mix well.
Pour the cake batter in the round spring form tin. Put the tin in the oven preheated to 180C.
Bake for 40+ minutes, until the top is set and is golden brown in colour. Check readiness with a wooden toothpick. Take the tin out, and carefully remove the cake while still warm.
Make the icing and pour over the still warm cake. Decorate with Dr Oetker lemon meringue sprinkles.

This is such a simple yet moreish cake. My husband ate three pieces in one evening.
Eddie and he said that this was my best cake ever. As much as I appreciate the compliment, I was a tad peeved, as I think in my life time I have baked prettier and tastier cakes. Though I agree, it was lovely, very moist and zingy.

Disclosure: I received a free book as part of BritMums Book Club.

Rekordelig jelly with raspberries and red currants

In the summer evenings when you fancy something sweet and light, a jelly ticks all the boxes. You can make it in any flavour you want, and the possibilities are endless. We had a big crop of red currants this year, which I managed to save from the ever foraging birds by wrapping the bushes not just in netting but in thin fleeces as well. I have put most of the berries in the freezer, and will make some jelly later, when I have a chance. We also ate some of the sour sweet berries fresh from the garden, while they were still warm from the sun.
I made an adult jelly with Rekordelig, which was one of the products in the last Degustabox.

You will need one sachet of Dr Oetker gelatine. Heat up 120 ml of Rekordelig, then add the contents of the sachet and stir well until the gelatine dissolves. Never add the liquid to gelatine, as it will go lumpy. Then top up with cold Rekordelig and apple juice to make a pint of liquid with gelatine (that is including 120ml). Put some berries like red currants and raspberries in the tall glass or sundae dish, pour the gelatine Rekordelig mixture. Put the jelly in the fridge overnight to set well.

The combination of flavours is very summery. A very enjoyable dessert.

Valentine's day menu

How do you woo your amour on Valentine's day? Do you keep things simple and sweet with a box of chocolates, or do you go for a full Monty and cook a 3-course dinner? Or do you fancy recreating that famous food scene from Nine and a Half Weeks? You know, I have just watched it again on Youtube and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. Oldies are always goldies.
While I might be showing my age by reference to 9 and 1/2 weeks, I like to make an effort and cook a special meal on Valentine's day.

Valentine's day menu

If you are looking for a menu which is easy and romantic, the Italian cuisine might be a source of inspiration. The Italians certainly know how to woo their loved ones with the most tantalising recipes. Take Caprese salad, what could be simpler than slicing tomatoes, mozzarella and tearing some basil leaves? Yet it's one of the most satisfying salads.
For my starter I prepared a light Caprese with a twist, as I also added a sliced blood orange to the classic ingredients. Don't knock it off before you tried it.

Caprese salad with blood orange

For a Caprese salad, slice the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, as well as a blood orange. Arrange the slices so that overlap each other. Drizzle some olive oil, tear fresh basil leaves, season with a bit of pepper if you fancy.

Strawberry Spumante cocktail:

To put you in the romantic mood, how about a cocktail with fresh strawberries?

Whizz 4-5 big strawberries into a thick puree, pour 5tbsp of puree in each glass and top up with a sparkling wine. I used Rosamore Vino Spumante Rosato Brut, an Italian fresh pink sparkling wine. It is a lovely aperitif, fresh and fruity.

For a main course impress your love with a dish of duck breast served with a strawberry and blood orange salsa.
Duck with sweet and sour salsa is a winning combination.
Duck with strawberry and orange blood salsa
Ingredients:
2 duck breasts, skin remove
1tsp grated ginger
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 garlic clove
sea salt
2tbsp olive oil

For the salsa:
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1tbsp maple syrup
a small punnet of strawberries
1 blood orange
a handful of pomegranates
1tbsp fresh thyme

First marinade two duck breasts in a mix of grated ginger (1tsp), juice and zest of 1 lime and 1 garlic clove, grated or pressed through the garlic press. Leave them in the marinade for an hour and a half or more.
Cook the breasts in the frying pan with the olive oil. I like my meat well done, so I don't give any suggestions on the time, it depends on how you like your meat.

Mix the balsamic vinegar with the maple syrup, zest and lime juice. Chop the strawberries and put in the bowl with the marinade. Remove the skin from the blood orange, slice it and put together with the berries. Add the pomegranate seeds and chopped thyme. Ideally the salsa should be left to infuse for a couple of hours. Give it an occasional stir.
Serve the duck breasts with the salsa spooned over.

Chocolate for me is a final indulgence. This Nutella and whisky cake tastes divine and finishes the Valentine's day nicely.

Nutella cake

Nutella cake
Ingredients:
4 medium eggs
100g Nutella+ more for decorating
150g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
3tbsp whisky
200g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
40g ground almonds
zest of 1 blood orange (optional)
100g butter, melted
Dr Oetker Shimmer spray gold and gold pearls (optional)
30+ minutes

Beat the eggs with Nutella and caster sugar. Add the vanilla essence, whisky, flour, baking powder, ground almonds, orange zest and melted butter, mix well. Pour in a heart-shaped cake tin. Bake at 180C for 30+ minutes.
Once cool to touch, spread some Nutella with a knife and smooth the surface. If you like, add a touch of glamour with Dr Oetker shimmer spray gold and gold pears, but this is optional.

If you are full, and feel a bit of slumber, perk up yourself with a nice cup of latte or cappuccino, sprinkled with cocoa.

To help me cook my Valentine's day dinner, OXO sent three kitchen gadgets of my choice to play with. I love OXO Good Grips, and use all my products from the range regularly. If you visit my kitchen, you'll see that I constantly use OXO Good Grips herb mincer, measuring cup and juicer to name but a few.

My first choice was an OXO Good Grips 3-piece Berry Bowl and Colander set. This jolly colourful set is just the right size for rinsing berries, beans and more. The set comes as a nest for compact storage, it has a non-slip bottom. The set is very easy to clean. The colander has an elevated ring along its bottom, so it also stays stable on the working surface or in the sink when you wash the berris. The holes are elongated for efficient draining. There is a lid with seals the bowl for storing the food in the fridge.

I used the set for washing the strawberries for both the salsa and cocktail and used the bowl for preparing the salsa.

OXO Good Grips Simple Mandoline Slicer is an easy-to-use kitchen gadget. I have fancied a mandoline for a long time. You choose a thickness you need for the food you selected: three slice thickness setting, julienne setting and storage setting. The stainless steel blade is angled and cuts the foods into slices with ease. You hold your piece of fruit or vegetable with a spring-loaded food holder which has a big rim to protect fingers. Textured runway prevents food from sticking.
A soft handle is comfy and soft, plus the mandoline comes with non-slip feet which keep it stable.
Once you finished the job and cleaned the mandoline, its leg folds for compact storage.
I used the mandoline for preparing the salad.

Tomatoes sliced with a mandoline

And finally OXO Good Grips Baker's Dusting Wand is a cute little kitchen gadget. It is useful for flouring the cake tin evenly, for sprinkling surfaces for rolling the dough, and of course, for adding icing sugar to your baked goodies or sprinkling cinnamon or cocoa over cappuccino. It is very light. Twist the wand open, scoop some icing sugar or cinnamon, twist to close and dust whatever you fancy.

Disclosure: I received a selection of OXO Good Grips to prepare a menu for Valentine's day.

Spiced pumpkin cupcakes for #UnileverHalloween

My little man has been off school today, as he is not feeling well. He spent most of the day in bed, watching the CBeebies and sleeping. To cheer him up, I baked a batch of spiced pumpkin cupcakes, though it is still two weeks until Halloween.
The weather has been ghastly for the last few days, and baking cakes is always a good way of spending day indoors.
I love culinary challenges, and was thrilled to be invited by Unilever Kitchen to join in a Halloween and Bonfire night challenge, testing my cooking skills - spooky style.
They said:
"Now, we much prefer the ‘treat’ to the ‘trick’ here at Unilever kitchen , so we’d like to challenge you to whip up some ‘treat’ snacks and dishes to keep the family warm during the Halloween and Bonfire season. The most inventive dish will then be awarded the top place, with the creator receiving tickets to the London Dungeon Experience for four people.

To help you on your spooky challenge we’ll provide you with a delicious foodie Halloween and autumn themed hamper, full of mouth-watering seasonal treats, Unilever products as well as some Halloween inspired surprises. Whether it’s ghostly cupcakes, banging stews or frighteningly good soups, the choice is yours!"

Since the hamper arrived, my son Eddie kept asking me when I was going to bake the spooky cupcakes.

Earlier today I had a delivery of glorious pumpkins from Abel & Cole, and just had to use some of them in baking.

Spiced pumpkin cupcakes (makes 20+)
Ingredients:
140 g cooked pumpkin
1/3 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2tsp ground ginger
1/3 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs
200g caster sugar
100ml olive oil
135g yogurt
1tbsp molasses
1tbsp golden syrup
240g plain flour
210g cornflour
80+ ml water
Start by cutting a small sized pumpkin into big chunks and scoop out the seeds. Slightly brush with oil and roast at 180C for half an hour. I used 3 pieces of pumpkin for the cupcakes ( the rest I served for dinner with venison steaks).

Remove the skin from the pumpkin pieces and mash with a fork in a big mixing bowl. Add all the spices, sugar and mix well. Add the olive oil, yogurt, molasses and golden syrup, and mix well again. Finally add the flour and cornflour. At this point the cake mix will be very thick. Add water a little bit at a time, until you have a smoother consistency, which is easier to ladle into the muffin cases.
Place the muffin cases in a big muffin tin and pour the cake mix leaving 1cm at the top.
I also used a silicone cupcake mold, as my son Eddie was very eager to try fancy-shaped cupcakes.
Bake the muffins/cupcakes at 180C until the wooden skewer comes clean (about 20+ minutes).

Let the cupcakes cool completely before decorating with the glace frosting.
For the frosting mix 250g icing sugar with 4tbsp lemon juice and 2tbsp coconut oil. You might want to add a little bit of water, to make it easier to spread over the cupcakes. Also add a bit of food colouring. The actual frosting is much more orange in real life than in the photos, but the light is abysmal today, and I couldn't get it right when I took the photos.
I used Dr Oetker icing writing pens to add a few touches.

We also did some ghostie cupcakes by adding the marshmallows on top of the frosting and painting faces with Dr Oetker icing pens.

Baking with veggies is this month's theme for Tea Time Treats hosted by Lavender and Lovage and The Hedgecombers.

Coconut banana cupcakes (dairy-free & lacto-free)

Yesterday my little man said Good bye to Miss Willis, his nursery teacher, a lovely lady who worked in our school for 10 years. She is kind, motherly and oozing confidence. Alas, she had to leave as they were moving house. All the parents wanted to give her a parting gift, so we collected money and signed a huge card. But I also wanted to do a personal good bye gift for Miss Willis. I made some discreet inquiries, and have been told by another teacher that she is on a dairy free diet.
I rushed to the supermarket and got a tub of lacto-free spread for baking. On Thursday evening I baked a batch of coconut banana cupcakes, decorated them and was pleased with myself that I had everything under control. Then on Friday morning it crossed my mind to look more carefully at the spread, and I realised that lacto-free is not dairy-free, and that spread wasn't suitable for our gift recipient. Having a quick look around the kitchen shelves and the fridge, I found a jar of coconut oil and decided to have another go at baking, this time dairy-free for sure.
So, here are two recipes for both "free-from" versions, they are almost identical, apart from the different oil and also I used shredded coconut in Lacto-free recipe.

Coconut banana dairy-free cupcakes (makes 10-12, depending on the size)
Ingredients:
1 banana, mashed
150g caster sugar
80g coconut oil (for example, Pukka)
2 medium eggs
150g self-raising four
1tsp baking powder
25g ground almonds
100 ml coconut milk
1tsp vanilla essence
for the frosting:
300g icing sugar
40g coconut oil
30ml+ coconut milk
Dr Oetker silver pearls (for decorating)

Mash a banana in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and softened coconut oil, mix thoroughly. Add the eggs, flour, almonds, baking powder, vanilla essence and coconut milk, keep mixing. Spoon the batter in the muffin cases inserted in the cupcake baking tin. Place the tin int he oven preheated to 180Cand bake for 25 minutes (check after 20 minutes with a wooden skewer if they're ready). Take the tray out, let the cupcakes cool before decorating. Make the frosting by beating together icing sugar with coconut oil, add the coconut milk a little bit at a time to create  soft frosting. Using an icing bag, decorate the cupcakes and add the silver pearls on top.

Coconut banana cupcakes (lacto-free)
Ingredients:
1 banana, mashed
150g caster sugar
80g Lactofree spread (e.g. Arla)
2 medium eggs
150g self-raising four
1tsp baking powder
25g ground almonds
100 ml coconut milk
1tsp vanilla essence
for the frosting:
300g icing sugar
40g Lactrofree spread
40ml+ coconut milk
40g shredded coconut
Dr Oetker silver pearls (for decorating)

Mash a banana in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and softened Lactofree spread, mix thoroughly. Add the eggs, flour, almonds, baking powder, vanilla essence and coconut milk, keep mixing. Spoon the batter in the muffin cases inserted in the cupcake baking tin. Place the tin int he oven preheated to 180Cand bake for 25 minutes (check after 20 minutes with a wooden skewer if they're ready). Take the tray out, let the cupcakes cool before decorating. Make the frosting by beating together icing sugar with Lactofree, add the coconut milk a little bit at a time to create the soft frosting. Add the shredded coconut and mix well. Using an icing bag, decorate the cupcakes and add the silver pearls on top.

I used Pukka Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, and it is delicious in baking.