April/Bake Sales
Cakes, Cookies and Easter twists
This week, I have something a little different for you: a handful of recipes for bake sales. This is entirely selfish because (quelle surprise) my youngest daughter’s school hosted not one, but two sales last week before they broke up for Easter.
First, a note on cake sales themselves, which are, of course, a great opportunity for the school to raise a bit of much-needed cash. My daughter’s school, a state school (public school for American readers) in an affluent area, happens to be the borough’s only infant school, so Reception to Year 2. It is a lovely, sweet school with fantastic teachers, but of course, being smaller than the average primary school (Reception to Year 6), it is allocated less cash. To compensate, it has a very active PTFA that does a stellar job raising funds, not just for things that are nice to have, but for essentials.
I hope it goes without saying that I think it is madness the degree to which state schools need this extra support in order to afford fundamentals like support staff, supplies, repairs and building work. I know in many European countries, the idea of volunteering to help raise funds for your child’s school would be met not just with confusion, but with anger.
It is also madness that it is almost always the mums who provide baked goods and volunteer to organise, run and clear up these events. It is almost always the mums who do all of the volunteering and organising. This, to my mind, does need to change, and I am going to challenge the year group to have an all-Dad class rep team next year. The next step is to get them more involved in the baking! Perhaps you know a Dad you could forward this newsletter to (see what I did there with birds and stones?).
It isn’t always easy to come up with a direction for these newsletters when the possibilites seem limitless. In this case, however, I had lots of helpful parameters. Bake sale goods need to be: nut-and-seed-free, easy to transport, single serving, straightforward and quick to make, and, above all, they must have kid appeal. This generally means some degree of garishness is a bonus, lord help me. Sprinkles, food colouring, chocolate chips, marshmallows, etc., were all my friends this week.
One of the bake sales at my daughter’s school was actually for parents, which gave me the chance to be a little more sophisticated. So there’s some spiced Hot Cross Bun Cookies (easy peasy) and Hot Cross Chelsea Buns (more of a challenge). On the last day of school, the cake sale was geared towards the smalls, so I took my classic cookie recipe and added dried fruit, chocolate chips and marshmallows for a rocky road-esque treat (these are definitely for those with a sweet tooth). Finally, chocolate cherry cupcakes with pink icing - because of course.
I should come clean and admit that I also had an additional specification: I need to use up ingredients. Specifically, glacé cherries, currants, candied peel and dried figs, all leftover from my annual Christmas cake bonanza. They expire before next year’s cakes will be made (just), but can thankfully be reincarnated in Easter-adjacent bakes. You can absolutely substitute any of these ingredients for any dried fruit (or nuts if not baking for a school) you have to hand.
Hot Cross Bun Cookies Makes 12-14 (can be doubled) You will need: 100g plain flour 100g jumbo oats 1/2 tsp bicarb 2 tsp mixed spice 1 tsp ground cinnamon 115g butter, very soft 75g caster sugar 75g light brown sugar 1 large egg 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 25g dried apple (the soft kind), roughly chopped 25g mixed peel 50g sultanas To decorate: 50g white chocolate, melted Method: 1. Heat your oven to 190C/ 170C Fan/375F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Whisk together flour, oats, bicarb and spices in a bowl along with a generous pinch of salt and set aside. 2. Beat butter and sugars together in a large bowl until light and fluffy - either by hand or in a stand mixer. Add the egg and vanilla, beating well (not to worry if the mixture splits a little), then tip in the dry ingredients. 3. Fold through the cherries, chocolate and marshmallows until well incorporated. Refrigerate the bowl for about 15-20 mins for the dough to firm up a little. 4. Scoop walnut-sized balls of dough (approx 2 tbsp worth) and place on the baking sheets with plenty of room in between to allow for spreading. Bake for 8-9 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 5. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave - do this slowly, in 20 sec bursts, stirring frequently. Use to pipe or spoon white chocolate crosses on the cookies and leave to harden fully.
These Hot Cross Chelsea Buns are not so much the love child of a Chelsea bun and a Hot Cross Bun as they are the confused offspring of a thruple (does that analogy work? Prob not, but you catch my drift). Because, to complicate matters further, the dough is very firmly in the Swedish kannelbulle (cinnamon bun) camp. Mash-up extravaganza!
This is really only because kannelbullar are the kind of bun I feel most comfortable making and find most delicious. These are thinner, though, and the HCB twist comes from the addition of mixed peel and spice to the dough and topping. The filling, however, is pure Chelsea bun - currants, brown sugar and lots of butter.
As always, when I post anything about Swedish-style buns, let me start by telling you: they are not for the faint-hearted. The dough takes a long time to reach the right stage and you do need some understanding of how bread works and feels.
A note on flour: you want something with a medium amount of protein, around 10g/100g. I like the Everyday Flour from M&S, which comes in at 9.9g. And yes, plain flour, not Strong White Bread Flour is what gives these buns their pillowyness. These are best eaten on the same day.
Hot Cross Chelsea Buns Makes approx 30 You will need: For the dough 1.1kg plain flour 200g caster sugar 200g butter, softened 500ml semi-skimmed milk 70g fresh yeast or 25g instant dried yeast 15g salt (table salt is fine) 2 tsp mixed spice 100g mixed peel 2 lemons, zest only For the filling: 250g soft butter 150g light brown sugar 2 oranges, zest only 200g currants For the glaze/topping: 1 orange, zest and juice 1 lemon, zest and juice 150g icing sugar 50g mixed peel Method: 1. Begin by mixing together the dough. I strongly recommend doing this in a stand mixer - start with the dry ingredients and leave to run for a minute, then add everything else. Use your lowest setting and allow the machine to run for at least 20 mins, but even up to 40 mins or an hour (!) until you get a very stretchy dough. It really takes this long for the gluten to develop properly. Test by grabbing a small ball of dough and stretching it out - if it stretches thinly enough for you to see through it (the so-called ‘window pane test’) then it’s ready. I tie an ice pack to my stand mixer to make sure it doesn’t overheat and give it a few breaks too, as mine is a tired old dame. 2. Flatten the dough out to a large, rough rectangle with your hands. Transfer to a baking sheet, cover with cling and leave in the fridge for 30 mins to rest. 3. Meanwhile, make your filling by beating together the butter, sugar and orange zest until light and spreadable. 4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a rectangle about 2mm thick, approx 90 x 60 cm, with the long side facing you - I like to trim the edges to keep things neat. Spread the orange and sugar butter all over the dough, right to the edges, then scatter over the currants, pressing them in lightly with your hands. 5. Roll the dough up - start from the middle of the long side closest to you, keeping the roll tight. Leading from the middle helps to keep the roll even-shaped, do a little at a time, following with the ends. Repeat until you have a long sausage and use your hands to arrange and shape the dough as evenly as possible. 6. Make indents at approx 2cm intervals along the rolled up dough, then cut with a sharp knife - this gave me 32 buns. At this stage, you can freeze your buns if baking later or leave them to prove and bake immediately. If freezing, you can pack the buns pretty close together on a baking sheet and place in the freezer loosely covered with cling. They will keep there for several days. 7. If baking on the same day, the buns need to prove. Place on baking sheets with about an inch or so in between each and cover with a tea towel. Leave for anywhere from 45 min to several hours - in the summer it will be less time and in the winter much more. If using frozen buns, take them out the night before you will be baking them (in the summer, do this right before bed, in the winter around dinnertime). You are looking for a change in size (I always think the term ‘doubling’ is misleading - they should have grown but may not double) and a puffiness. If this is taking a long time (particularly if you have a cold kitchen or it’s the coldest March in living memory), you can create a makeshift proofing oven by placing a baking dish of hot water in the bottom of the oven and placing your sheets in there for a bit (oven off). 8. Preheat the oven (without any buns in them!) to 220C/200C Fan/425F then bake the buns for about 10 mins or so (check halfway, if your oven is patchy you might need to rotate the baking sheets), until golden and well-baked (ie no patches of wet dough). Remove from the oven and leave to cool fully, transferring to a wire rack when they are cool enough to handle. 9. While the buns are cooling, make the glaze. Combine the zest of 1 orange and the juice of half with about 150g icing sugar. Adjust the amount of icing sugar and orange juice to create a drizzleable consistency. Drizzle over the buns and sprinkle with mixed peel.
Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes Makes 12-14 You will need: For the cupcakes: 100g plain flour 50g cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp bicarb 100g caster sugar 100g light brown sugar 3 medium eggs 100ml neutral oil (not coconut or groundnut) 2 tsp vanilla 150ml buttermilk or kefir 75g glacé cherries, chopped For the frosting: 200g unsalted butter, very soft 350g icing sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1-2 tbsp milk 100g glace cherries, finely chopped plus whole cherries to decorate 1-2 drops red food colouring sprinkles (optional) Method: 1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/ 400F and line a 12-hole muffin or cupcake tin with liners. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarb in a small bowl. 2. Beat together the sugars, eggs and oil (either by hand or in a stand mixer). Add the vanilla and buttermilk, then tip in the dry ingredients. Mix well and fold through 75g glacé cherries. Divide the mixture between the cupcake liners and bake for approx 30 mins until risen and a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to a baking rack and leave to cool. 3. To make the frosting, beat the butter and icing sugar together until soft and fluffy (I used a stand mixer but if your butter is soft enough you should be able to do this by hand). Add the vanilla and lighten a bit with milk to a pipe-able consistency. Add the glacé cherries and a drop or two of food colouring, beating well to get a bright pink consistency. 4. Pipe the frosting over the cupcakes or use a palette knife to spread over if piping is too much effort. Decorate each cupcake with an additional glacé cherry (or sprinkles if you prefer). Best eaten on the same day as baking.
Rocky Road Cookies Makes approx 20 You will need: 175g plain flour 1/2 tsp bicarb 115g butter, very soft 75g caster sugar 75g light brown sugar 1 large egg 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 150g glacé cherries, chopped 100g chocolate chips 70g mini marshmallows Method: 1. Heat your oven to 190C/ 170C Fan/375F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Whisk together flour and bicarb in a bowl along with a generous pinch of salt and set aside. 2. Beat butter and sugars together in a large bowl until light and fluffy - either by hand or in a stand mixer. Add the egg and vanilla, beating well (not to worry if the mixture splits a little), then tip in the flour. 3. Fold through the cherries, chocolate and marshmallows until well incorporated. Refrigerate for about 15-20 mins for the dough to firm up a little. 4. Scoop walnut-sized balls of dough (approx 2 tbsp worth of dough) and place on the baking sheets with plenty of room in between to allow for spreading. Bake for 8-9 mins and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Footnotes:
We really enjoyed this fun series on Netflix.
And this on BBC iplayer with my girls (slowly introducing them to Jane Austen).
I don’t really watch reality TV, but I have a lot of time for this series. Handsome French men, beautiful properties and very little drama - just my cup of tea. Plus, I watch with French subtitles, so it’s basically educational.
I’m writing this from Brussels, having just spent a few days in Paris, where I made one of my oldest and dearest friends risk her life cycling across town with me just so that I could purchase this bag from Merci - cliché, moi?
I’m currently reading this Håkan Nesser in Swedish (apologies for the very trashy cover of the English version), which is very gripping. Haven’t read any Nesser before and the back catalogue is vast - any other suggestions, fellow Swedes?