Spicy Butternut Squash Cake

I had never heard of a butternut squash until I had my first child.  When I was weaning him onto solids I used a recipe book by a children's cook, Annabel Karmel, that stated babies LOVED the taste of this weird and wonderful member of the squash family.  She was right, he loved it.  Some days I mixed it with apple, some days with pear and other days with savoury ingredients and not once did he refuse it. In fact, all my children loved this sweetly smooth vegetable.  Soups made with it are superb and it absorb flavours well, from curry spices through to pudding spices.  Sage is also an excellent flavour to marry with butternut.

I've been thinking about using puréed vegetables in cake mixes for a while now, after my son said he'd eaten courgette cake at a friend's house and how nice it was.  I had a butternut in my fridge and scoured recipes and came across this one.  It is stated as a bread, but it's a cake really - cooked in a lined and greased 9x5" loaf tin.

It is beautifully moist but definitely more likely to appeal to the adult palette.  My older two liked it, but didn't rate it as highly as other cakes.  The younger two did not like it at all.  It needs to be left for at least a day before it is eaten as the spices are still very pungent and haven't had time to develop.  It is also nice spread with butter.

In this recipe, it is very important to roast the squash beforehand and to purée it.  It will give you an idea of the yield you have to determine how many cakes you can make. One cup of purée will give you one cake, so if your squash makes two cups, double the recipe, three cups, triple it and so on.  To roast, split the butternut in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds and put the two halves cut side down on a baking sheet and roast at Gas 4 / 350F / 180C for 45 minutes or until a knife goes through the flesh with no resistance.  Scoop out the flesh and put through a blender and discard the papery skin.  If you don't fancy making multiple loaves, then what's left can be made into a soup.

If you're not likely to eat this cake within 3-4 days, it is best sliced and either stacked with greaseproof paper between the slices, wrapped in clingfilm and placed in an airtight box to be frozen.

Ingredients

1½ cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 cup butternut squash purée
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, beaten
¼ cup water

Method

1.  In one bowl, sift flour, soda and all the spices.

2.  In another bowl mix the butternut purée, sugar, oil, eggs and water until well blended.  This will appear very sloppy and the oil will take a while to mix, but don't worry if it doesn't mix completely.

3.  Add the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.

4.  Pour into loaf tin and bake at Gas 4 / 350F /180C for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

5.  Leave to cool in tin on a wire rack for ten minutes, then remove from tin and cool completely.

Maple Syrup Muffins

I've always got a bottle of maple syrup in the larder and usually it's only poured over pancakes as I've often been wary of baking cakes with it as it has such a strong flavour.  But today my mouth has been watering at the thought of eating something cakey with it, so instead of heading for the chocolate muffin recipes I have, I decided to do a basic mix and then add in a bit of maple syrup.  I was still a bit hesitant about quantities, so I used half golden and half maple and I think the balance is just right.

4oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
4 tbsp maple syrup, plus extra for drizzling
4 tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs
8oz self raising flour
4 tbsp milk
cinnamon and icing sugar to dust

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add all other ingredients and mix well.  Put into muffin cases and bake at Gas 5 / 190C / 375F for 25 minutes.

 

When the muffins are just out of the oven put two skewer holes in, drizzle over extra maple syrup, sprinkle with a tiny dusting of cinnamon and then a layer of dusted icing sugar.






These are so delicious warm.  My youngest son had just gone to bed by the time they were cool enough to eat, but he heard the Mmmmmms coming from downstairs and was allowed to come down to enjoy the first batch with us. Next time I bake them I'm tempted to top them with  a maple flavoured icing .

Beer and Mustard Bread

My son has wanted to be a chef since he was four years old.  Whether he continues with that career choice remains to be seen, but he does like to be given opportunities to get in the kitchen as often as possible.  He doesn't err towards baking sweet things like I do, but savoury and side dishes.  Today he wanted to make bread.  An ordinary white loaf didn't appeal.  He wanted to make a cheese and onion loaf, but our meagre amount of cheese in the fridge soon put an end to that.

Undeterred, he found a recipe for beer and mustard bread and after getting permission from his father to raid his stock of Boddingtons, he set about making his own loaf.  

His first loaf was quite intricately designed, he says, to be a 'sharing' loaf.  He served it on a wooden bread board with butter on the side with our main meal today and every single bit of it has gone.

Custard Dreams

The biscuit tin in my house empties way too quickly and I do get to a point where I refuse to buy more. Partly because I'm all too often the guilty party dipping into it and whilst they're there for the eating.....!

My daughter made these biscuits for a homework assignment a couple of years ago and they were a great success, so I decided to make them again today.

Biscuits

250g/8oz butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2¼ cups plain flour
½ custard powder
1½ tsp baking powder

Icing

1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp soft butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp condensed milk

1.  Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2.  Gradually add all other ingredients, chill for ten minutes.

3.  Break off pieces and roll into balls the size of a walnut and place on an ungreased baking sheet.  You can make them as big or little as you like.

4.  Press down balls with a fork to flatten slightly and then bake at 180C / 350F / Gas 4 for 15 minutes (shorter or longer depending on how big you make the balls).

5.  Cool on a wire rack.  When totally cool, mix all icing ingredients together, chill mix for ten minutes, then use to sandwich biscuits together.

6.  Find a willing volunteer to try out the first one!

When the butter's rock hard

Some days I want to make a cake in a hurry, but the butter dish is running low and the new pack is in the fridge, rock solid.  At times like this I use the following recipe because it doesn't use butter.  It's great because you put everything into one bowl and mix it up quickly.  It gives a really delicious and moist cake.

200g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp baking powder
125g caster sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs
150ml vegetable oil
150ml milk


Put all ingredients in a bowl, mix well and then put into either an 8 inch cake tin or two 8 inch sandwich tins and bake at Gas 4/ 160C / 325F for 30 - 40 minutes.

I like to serve this still slightly warm, sandwiched and topped with chocolate royal icing and a big dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

Involving Children

I've not met a child yet that doesn't like baking and I've not met a child who is not prepared to taste their own creations. It can be a fabulous way to introduce new tastes and textures to fussy eaters. It allows them to be creative and best of all - to get messy.

Having two of my four children born with severe food intolerances brought home to me the importance of knowing where food comes from, what's in it and how it's made. At times I've bought things for the children and then searched for recipes to make my own version - more often than not the children enjoy the homemade version more. Other times the factory wins over me, but its fun messing around with the ingredients.

Children should not find baking intimidating. If you're not confident yourself, your children will pick up on that, so don't feel pressured to start teaching them anything too complicated to start with. With my children, I started with muffin mixes. They're not as precise as sponge mixes so they inevitably come out more successful than fairy cakes. Also, biscuit mixes and cookies. A plain biscuit mix can lead to all variations of creations, and all it takes to change the flavour is a little flavouring extract, or to change colour, some food colouring.

I usually double up quantities when my children want to bake. That way I can split doughs and cake mixes between them. It saves arguments over who gets most, stops them constantly elbowing or knocking each other when trying to work and also gives them the chance to make a whole batch of goodies. They love having their own working space, but if your kitchen doesn't allow for this, try to put them side by side with their own doughs or mixes. One may like to add a flavouring to theirs, another might prefer a colour or keeping it plain. You can really see a child's individuality come out when they're left to their own devices.

My younger two love making biscuits. This week they wanted to make their own jammie dodgers. They made a basic biscuit dough, rolled it out and then used different shaped cutters. With just a little supervision when rolling out pastry, as kids tend to roll it until it's like a sheet of paper, they got some really good results.  They tasted great too.  In fact they hadn't even cooled properly before they were all eaten.

 

Any flavour jam can be used to fill them. My children chose my homemade blackcurrant jam for these ones, but we've had just as good results from a jar of shop bought jam.

Leftovers

'Best before' dates?  I tend to ignore them most of the time. 'Use by' dates command my respect a bit more and I am more cautious, but if the food is not something likely to spoil within a day or two of the printed date, I still use it.  

So much food is wasted as people don't have the basic skills or confidence to know what to do with leftovers. Having to buy more than you need for a recipe will result in something festering away in the fridge, or perhaps too many roast potatoes or meat from a joint is left over, or you've had to separate an egg and have no idea what to do with the yolks or the whites that are left.

Don't be afraid to put leftovers in your fridge for use another time. Food is expensive and it's accounting for a major part of our disposable income every week - and you don't get a lot for your money.  I grew up with a mother who threw away obscene amounts because she didn't like the thought of 'second hand food'. She's come round over the years to my way of thinking and occasionally I do spot the odd cold sausage in her fridge or a few roast potatoes. I remember one Christmas she had so much veg, roast and boiled potatoes and turkey left over, I recoiled in horror when she headed towards the bin with it and managed to convince her to put it in plastic boxes for me. I made four family meals out of it. One year she had a solitary rasher of streaky bacon left after covering the turkey, so went to throw it away.  Why it couldn't have just been put on the turkey is anyone's guess, but she wouldn't fry it for breakfast the next morning as it was the 'wrong type of bacon'. 

I have a shelf in my fridge that I put all the leftovers on, so I know they have to be used quickly and they don't get forgotten. If your budget is really tight for food, it can be a real joy to know you can make a meal out of practically nothing. You don't need to invest in cook books either. Quite often I go here, type in the ingredients I have and scour through the ideas. Some recipes I follow but others prompt me to try something different and I've had good results.

Today I had half a small jug of single cream left over in my fridge and 2 egg whites. I made some meringues, using the 2 egg whites, 60g of brown cane sugar and 60g of icing sugar. I got a dozen tablespoon sized individual meringues out of the mix. In a small saucepan I melted some butter, squirted in two blobs of golden syrup, added 2 tbsp of cocoa powder to make a rich paste and then added the cream and stirred it through.  he meringues were sandwiched together with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, then the chocolate sauce was drizzled over. 

So, a delicious pudding that served four children, which, if I'd thrown away my unused egg whites and single cream, they'd never have got to enjoy.