Recipe: Nanaimo bars

Recipe: Nanaimo bars
Source: My Kitchen Antics

We had a big family event at the weekend that required lots and lots of cake! I was happy to help and was asked to make something that would serve 20+ people. As well as being tasty, it needed to be something that could be stored for a couple of days, wasn’t messy to eat and, since I work full-time, I also wanted it to be incredibly easy to make or a recipe that I’d successfully made before. I opted for the latter...

I was first told about Nanaimo bars by a colleague in my old work. She told me they originated in Canada and, once I’d looked them up on Wikipedia, I knew I just had to make them. When the time came, I settled on this recipe from My Kitchen Antics (adapted from The Boy Who Bakes) because I was too lazy to follow a recipe that used cups for measurements, and I also liked the way it had added pecans to the base.

The first time I ever made these, I also made a peanut butter version (following a different recipe), and both types were a big hit. I’ve made this ‘original’ recipe again since and they turned out exactly the same – no problems! My memory did fail me, though, as I was thinking I’d only previously got 16 pieces out of the batch rather than the predicted 20–25, so I ended up making two batches for the weekend...I ended up with 40 slices. Oh well, the more the merrier!

For some reason, I didn’t read the recipe properly on this occasion, so I lined my baking trays with greased baking paper rather than foil. Whilst this did turn out ok, it made it harder to ease the finished product from the tins, so I’ll definitely be sticking to the foil in future!

The recipe was as easy as I remembered it. I used digestive biscuits which I whizzed in the food processor and the smell of these combined with the coconut was fantastic. When preparing the cocoa mixture for the base, I loved watching it turn silky and thick and, once combined with the rest of the ingredients, all the elements held together really well and left the mixing bowl clean once transferred to the baking tray. It smelt delicious and tiffin-like, although its slightly greasy appearance didn’t look promising in terms of any health benefits. (Who am I kidding? This was never going to be a healthy treat!) In terms of pressing this layer down into the tin, I’ve always found that the back of a metal serving spoon does the job nicely.

 

The middle layer was my only cause for concern on this occasion. When mixing the butter and icing sugar, it didn’t go smooth before I added the cream (as the picture shows), and I couldn’t remember if that had happened before. I carried on regardless and, thankfully, everything turned out fine. For this layer, I used a spatula to spread it evenly.

I was slightly nervous about the final layer of these bars as my last experience was of making an orange version where I made the stupid mistake of setting the heat too high and leaving the chocolate for the full two minutes without checking on it. The result was a burnt-tasting ganache! I definitely learnt from my error and had no further problems this time so I quite happily applied it to the top of the traybake with a palette knife.

The only downside of this recipe is that it does require patience in taking time to spread each layer out carefully (although I’m a non-artistic perfectionist so probably take longer than most!) and then leaving them to set. On this occasion, my start to end baking time was around five hours but, bearing in mind I made two batches, stopped for lunch, had a couple of fights with cling film (urgh) and realised part way through that I didn’t have enough icing sugar and had to wait for more to arrive, this seemed totally reasonable. Even better was the fact that I remained stress-free throughout!

Most importantly, the Nanaimo bars were as rich as ever. They had a lovely chocolatey taste with a subtle coconut flavour and chunky pecans. I guess they weren’t too dissimilar from other chocolate traybakes, but I think these Nanaimo bars were sweeter than most, although this was mellowed greatly by the chocolate. I’ve always found that the custard adds more texture than flavour, whilst the icing sugar provides a different, slightly grainy texture in the middle layer, which is also something different to other similar treats.

 

As for the crowd, they were definitely pleased – I only heard positive comments from those who tried them and some people raved and raved. I know I’ll be making these for years to come!

  

Ease of recipe: 9.5/10
Finished product: 9/10
Overall score: 9.25/10
Bake again? Yes

Tesco Cupcakes: Chocolate fudge

Product name: Tesco Cupcakes: Chocolate fudge
Purchase details: £1.40 for a pack of two cupcakes or three for two (Tesco)
Calories: 293 per cupcake
Country of origin: UK

So it’s time to review the last of the cupcakes I picked up as part of Tesco’s three for two offer. As much as I love chocolate fudge cake, I normally would have chosen a seemingly more interesting variety, but I’d seen these Tesco Cupcakes: Chocolate fudge on A Review a Day a couple of weeks earlier and they looked and sounded divine!

These new ‘chocolate flavoured sponge cakes filled with chocolate sauce, topped with chocolate fudge flavour frosting and a chocolate decoration’ once again came in a simple but effective plastic box that, this time, featured a purple cardboard sleeve. The frosting that accounted for 39% of each cake was quite basic in appearance but was topped with attractive, marbled chocolate shards. I think these were both meant to be triangular in shape but one of mine had broken! I was particularly pleased when I turned one over to find they were predominantly made of white chocolate. Inside the cake, the dark chocolate-containing sauce (11%) had been deeply injected and looked lovely and stiff.

As soon as I opened the box, a delicious chocolate cake scent wafted up to my nostrils. The sponge tasted like any decent chocolate cake with a good cocoa flavour and moist, soft texture. The thick sauce added a gooey feel and a slight bitterness that, interestingly, had an element of creaminess too. The buttercream was also great – I could taste both the cocoa powder and the butter and there was a slight graininess from the icing sugar without feeling too bitty. The brittle chocolate fragment topped off this bundle of squidgy amazingness nicely with a little extra sweet and creamy flavour.

As far as chocolate fudge cakes go, I didn’t find this cupcake quite as rich as the full-on dessert, although this may partly have been down to the smaller portion size. The cake itself was also a little drier, although not in a negative way. It was definitely a good decision to purchase this fabulous product. I think I might even try my remaining cupcake warm...mmmmmm.

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 8.13/10

The Custom Cupcake Company Berries & Cream Cupcake

Product name: The Custom Cupcake Company Berries & Cream Cupcake
Purchase details: £2.00 for one cupcake (The Custom Cupcake Company)
Country of origin: England

When I reviewed The Custom Cupcake Company Peanut Butter Brownie, I said I was sure I’d be back – and it didn’t take me long! I knew I wouldn’t be doing my diet over the extended Easter weekend so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to treat myself to another one of their filled cupcakes.

Since it was Easter, I deliberately steered away from chocolate, and went for this Berries & Cream Cupcake instead. I must say that the in-store description that included a white chocolate icing was part of the reason for this but since, technically, white chocolate isn’t real chocolate, that didn’t count!

I did my best to carry this cupcake home carefully but the bright pink frosting did look a bit deflated by the time I reached my destination. I still thought it looked very impressive, though – I just wish you could have seen it before I moved it! As well as the thick frosting, the pale golden sponge cake was drizzled with the aforementioned white chocolate, sprinkled with a bit of pink edible glitter, and topped with a deep red, real strawberry. Inside was a berry compote and cream filling that resulted in an appearance similar to a Victoria sponge. The cupcake didn’t smell overly strong but it did have a fairy cake aroma.

Now, I know The Custom Cupcake Company can’t take credit for this, but the strawberry was lovely and juicy! I love strawberries but I do find them a bit hit and miss in terms of their sweetness. This one was good, though, and the white chocolate drizzle helped the sweetness levels too.

I tried the frosting next and this was a massive sugar hit. It tasted a bit lemony but there was a mellower berry aftertaste to it as well. I think there must have a been a lot of icing sugar in there as it was a little bit gritty but this texture wasn’t really noticeable when combined with the cake.

On its own, the sponge tasted quite basic but had a fairly rich buttery flavour. It was, perhaps, a little dry, but I ate this the day after purchase so it wasn’t as fresh as it could have been, and this certainly wasn’t the case when combined with the other elements.

The cupcake’s filling was beautiful. The cream seemed to have a deep vanilla flavour that tasted similar to the creme layers you find in sandwich biscuits. The berry compote was a deep red in colour but also added an extra depth to the flavour (it was more than your average jam) and was very enjoyable.

Combined, the different parts of the cupcake worked very well together. I have a very sweet tooth but I can’t deny that I winced when I first tried the frosting – it was so sweet that it was almost sour! However, the filling distracted from this, and the compote also contained a couple of chewy seeds that gave the treat a more authentic feel.

This Berries & Cream Cupcake wasn’t quite as I was expecting because I’d misunderstood the description in-store. I had thought the pink frosting also contained white chocolate but this certainly didn’t taste like the case. Whilst I did still enjoy the flavour, I would have preferred a smaller quantity of frosting, a larger amount of filling, or both! However, there is no denying that this was another well-presented and tasty offering from The Custom Cupcake Company.

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Recipe: Cherry bakewell cupcakes

Recipe: Cherry bakewell cupcakes
Source: Favourite Cakes, Bakes & Cupcakes – Good Housekeeping (Collins & Brown, 2010)

We recently had a laid-back afternoon tea in honour of my sister-in-law’s birthday. There were a few flavour combinations she’d requested for her cakes so I opted to make something containing cherry and almond. After flicking through various recipe books, and having a look online, I opted for these Cherry bakewell cupcakes from the Good Housekeeping Favourite Cakes, Bakes & Cupcakes book that I’d recently bought but not yet used. If you don’t have it, the recipe can also be found here.

I increased the quantities in the recipe by half in order to achieve a yield of 18 cakes but, other than that, the only change I made was decorating them with flaked almonds and glacé cherries rather than red sugar sprinkles in order to add a bit more flavour. My original plan had been to organise them to look like flowers but, in the shop, I realised this wouldn’t be possible since very few or the almonds in each bag were perfectly formed!

The recipe was supposed to take 30 minutes to make, 25 to bake, plus cooling and setting time. I always allow extra time as I’m a slower-than-average cook but, in the end, it took me quite a lot longer!

The cake itself was incredibly easy to make – I even managed to get round the problem of needing four and a half medium eggs by substituting one of them for a large one. (I was proud of my logic here until I realised I’d accidentally deleted the picture of the ingredients that included them – I’d forgotten to add the eggs in the picture I’ve posted here!) The mixture was more doughy than liquidy so I was unable to use the ice cream scoop trick when transferring it into the paper cases, like I had done with the Boston cream cupcakes, but I found each one took about two very loaded teaspoons, plus an extra half a teaspoon. The dough smelt strongly of almonds and it tasted beautiful – sweet, buttery and nutty – I’m not sure I’ve ever licked a bowl so clean before!

The cakes did take slightly longer to cook through than they were supposed to but this was because I had to keep swapping the oven shelves around to make room for the extras I’d made. I accidentally let them go more brown than golden, due to being distracted by the icing, but they were by no means burnt and we actually found this slightly crispy top layer went well with the other textures in the finished product. Usefully, the baked cupcakes could be frozen prior to icing, if necessary.

The frosting was unlike anything I’ve ever done before. It was described as ‘custard cream’ and was made in different stages: making a custard, cooling it, adding butter, chilling it, then adding icing sugar. This was where things started to go a bit wrong for me!

The first set of custard I made didn’t seem right at all. Having been cooled, it was incredibly thick and jelly-like. Hoping it would sort itself out when whisked with the butter, I proceeded, but despite attempting to add extra warm milk, and whisking it for a long time, it was impossible to get rid of tiny globules of congealed custard that were visible throughout the mixture. Whilst I had plenty of custard powder, milk and butter, I didn’t have enough icing sugar to risk adding it, so I chucked the custard-butter mixture and started again.

For my second attempt at the custard, I was a lot more vigilant about the measurements, ensuring that I’d levelled out the custard powder on the tablespoon to ensure I didn’t add too much. At first, this seemed to make a difference but, once cooled, it again became a wobbly mass.

By this point, I was running out of time and, knowing that the butter mixture would have to be chilled for half an hour and then I’d still have to gradually add the icing sugar, physically decorate the cakes, and then leave to set for an hour, I took the plunge and didn’t allow my final attempt at the custard to cool. Instead, I whisked the butter in straight away. Unsurprisingly, this caused the butter to melt, and the mixture really didn’t look attractive, but I just had to hope it would all work out when I added the sugar!

When I whisked in the icing sugar, unfortunately, the custard still decided to form tiny globules. I had no choice but to continue but, as the mixture became lighter in colour, these yellow flecks became more obvious – my sister-in-law was in the kitchen at this point and asked if I’d added lemon rind! A few of us had a tiny sample and found that it tasted absolutely fine (nice and sugary!) and, whilst there was a slightly bumpy texture to it, it wasn’t terrible or even that noticeable. Once I’d added the almond and cherry topping, I was pleased that the yellow flecks were even less obvious and, from a distance, they weren’t visible at all.

I’m not actually a huge fan of glacé cherries but, having made these cakes myself, they seemed a lot more appealing! The almond flavour was a lot stronger than the cherries, and the sweet custard-flavoured icing worked well – I felt that they really did taste like bakewell tart in cake form, although it would have been nice if there was some jam in there somewhere too. The cake wasn’t incredibly moist but, particularly with the icing, it wasn’t dry either.

Everyone enjoyed these cupcakes and, looking back, I should have stuck with the first batch of icing as it ended up making no difference whatsoever. Like I’ve found before, my three year-old nephew tucked straight into the icing but, what surprised me was he also ate the cherry and almond topping and, once the frosting had gone, he proceeded to eat the entire cake. It was pretty big for such a small person and I’ve never known him so quiet for so long – nothing was coming between them!

Although my experience with this recipe wasn’t the best, the end result felt worth it and, knowing what I do now about the icing, I would happily make these cupcakes again in less than half the time.

Technically, the 405 calories-containing cakes could be kept for two to three days in an airtight container in the fridge, but we found they tasted a lot fresher on the day they were made. 

Ease of recipe: 8/10
Finished product: 8/10
Overall score: 8/10
Bake again? Yes