So, its been a while hasn't it? Well all I can say is that i've been busy, busy, busy and if you've just been waiting for another post (lets face it though, I'm in no way that vain, I know you haven't been waiting, but just go with it)... well all I can say is get a hobby. Walk, paint, throw down some class pottery pieces.
This evening, when on my evening walk with the dog, I was thinking of how nice and peaceful it all was. That time of year when the schools are all finishing for Summer and people are heading off on their Summer hols. Yes, I do love this time of year, even more so that I am no longer in education. As now I am doing something I love and that is such a great feeling. I don't care that I don't have 2 months off, I'd rather be doing this.
I never really intended to make these buns. I was actually looking in the fridge, the beautiful fridge. This fridge is a thing of stunning beauty! It is shiny, tall, cool and has a temperature gauge- everything a keen cook looks for in a fridge. This was and is the fridge for me. You could fit around 3 people in this fridge, well maybe. I haven't tried it... i'm not at that stage of strange...yet. It purrs perfection. And not the kind of purr that the last fridge was making. That was a noise that would make your cat hiss, or dog run. It sounded like an in-labour moose that was having a filling installed- what? Installed? Put in rather. I don't think installed was the right description. No, this fridge hums a wonderful hymn. I can see my reflection in it and it hugs back when hugged. Yes, I hug my fridge. Don't you?
Anyway, I'd actually been looking for some dinner-making ingredients and not baking ingredients. I found some carrots and thought, 'hmm, I've never made carrot cake. Why not make it now?' I then found sustenance in the form of pancakes. Toasted some, burnt some and ate some.
On with the baking. This was fun as the radio was on, the dog running round the garden and no one else was around. I don't enjoy baking with others around. They harsh my baking vibe. What can I say, I prefer to bake alone. I'd be a terrible teacher. Really, I've no patience. Which is ironic, as for baking, patience is key.
So I tuned into the radio, some music station and started weighing out the ingredients as I wanted to get all artsy with it and make each ingredient aesthetically pleasing to the eye and for ease of you lot reading this. I like making buns as it requires no greasing of the tins, lining with the baking paper and well allows me to be that little bit more chill when making these bad boys. I'm not lazy, I just don't particularly enjoy the faffing with the paper at the beginning.
I preheated the oven to 160 C in a fan assisted oven and then put out 24 buns cases in two, 12 hole trays. Right, batter time!
The ingredients you will need are (this is a BBC Food recipe)
- 450ml Veg Oil
- 400g Plain Flour
- 2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 550g Caster sugar (the recipe never stated what kind of sugar, I chose caster.)
- 5 Eggs, preferably free range
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 1/2 tsp Cinnamon, I put 1 tsp as feel it can be quite overpowering
- As many carrots as you want. I had 3, so I used 3
Ciara Recipe:
- 1 tub of Mascarpone
- 1 tub of Cream cheese
- 10g Caster sugar
(The recipe said: 200g cream cheese, 150g caster sugar and 100g butter)
For the batter; begin by chucking all the dry ingredients; the flour, caster sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and cinnamon in the bowl.
Give these a quick mix with the beater and then leave.
Add in the eggs and oil and give it a mix.
Finally the grated carrot, which by the way was the best smelling component so far. So fresh and naturally sweet. Just lovely.
Give this a quick mix and then, using a spatula, scrap the bowl and make sure everything is mixed in well.
Get yourself an ice cream scoop and scoop little mounds of this batter into each case. FYI, you are probably going to have some left over after just 24 buns, but I couldn't be bothered making more than that. There is only two of us.
Pop them into the oven and allow to bake for around 40-50 minutes or until risen, golden brown and cooked all the way through. Yum!
Take them out of the oven and then allow them to cool in a dark, shaded place for around an hour.
To make the icing, no beaters needed. Just a glass bowl and a spatula. I didn't follow the recipe for this as thought it'd be too sweet. No, I ventured out on my own. Dared to dream. I popped 1 tub of mascarpone in a bowl, along with 1 of cream cheese and around 10g of caster sugar. It was actually really nice. Plus you only need a little as it is quite rich.
Fill a piping, lined with a large star nozzle and pipe little mounds of icing onto each bun. You'll more than likely need a little more icing, like double the amount more as there just wasn't enough. But I didn't want to ice them all, so this worked in my favour.
Keep in the fridge as this is fresh cream cheese. Cream cheese and heat = a very sad baker. Seriously, chill.
And that is that. Thanks again for reading and have a lovely week all!
Ciara
