This dairy-free icing is perfect for kid’s tastebuds or adults who have a sweet tooth.  It’s the chocolate icing I made for my Dairy-free Easy Quick Light Chocolate Cakes here.  You can increase the amount of cocoa powder, turning it less sweet and more of a darker-tasting chocolate.

One of the difference when using dairy-free margarine to butter is that the margarine is easily over beaten and for this reason I make the icing by hand.  If using an electric hand whisk use the slow speed on it and only until the point the icing amalgamates.  Butter with fat that naturally stays solid at room temperature has a wider window of tolerance, which the dairy-free (and soya-free)  margarine doesn’t.  Dairy-free margarine fat content sits around the 60% mark, and butter is normally around 80% fat.  Once you’ve over-beaten dairy-free margarine it will release its water content and lose the ability to hold shape.

DSC_0058 DSC_0059 DSC_0060

This icing is child’s play – still in her pyjamas the 5 year old is enthusiastically giving me a hand.

choc icing 1 [click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }

These two types of doughs were my first attempt at making egg and dairy free doughnuts for allergy kid yesterday.  The base for these were taken from a recipe using baking powder kindly sent by Andrew using mash potato.  Doughnut recipes whether they’re a yeast version or use baking powder contain eggs normally, eggs in dough softens the dough.  Andrew’s idea behind using mash potato was to act as softener as I was trying to make dough without eggs, it’s not only a good idea for that but potato is also an excellent source of fast food for the yeast, and since using quite a bit of sugar and some fat in the dough both of which would not help the yeast, to my mind I wanted to have something in there to aid it.

Andrew tells me that US recipes for doughnuts quite often use baking powder as the raising agent, where here we see yeast doughnut recipes commonly.  I can buy doughnuts sometimes in some supermarkets like Tesco or the Co-op which are both dairy and egg free but I can’t always guarantee the recipe is egg free as in Tesco they also make them using egg.

Doughnuts eaten in the UK are soft yeast doughs that should also feel relatively light, and the best doughnuts for my kids are the ones filled with jam, no jam no doughnuts as far as they’re concerned, which meant this defined the shape of doughnuts I made.

doughnuts yeast or bp 2

Top photo left: ‘flying sponge’ for yeast dough    Top photo right: baking powder dough

Using mash potato in the recipe I decided to make the two versions of doughnuts.  The straightforward baking powder recipe, a simple matter of adding everything to the mash and mixing well then rest the dough in the fridge to make it easier to handle the dough, and the yeast version. [click to continue…]

{ 6 comments }

Cycling from London to Paris for charity – I’m living with a MAMIL

December 9, 2012
Thumbnail image for Cycling from London to Paris for charity – I’m living with a MAMIL

I had no idea what a MAMIL (middle-aged men in lycra) was until last month when Bikerboy sent me a link of Rosie Millard’s article  My Olympic Legacy: a bike-mad husband  in The Independent.  At that point I felt as if I had joined an undeclared counselling group for wives.  Yay!  There are others like me, […]

Read the full article →

The book that made me a better baker

December 5, 2012
Thumbnail image for The book that made me a better baker

A few months ago Ibán Yarza, the talented Spanish writer and baker who translated Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf book into Spanish asked me what books I would recommend.  I would say the book that introduced me to the science behind baking influenced me greatly, it filled-in the gaps and was a great partner to […]

Read the full article →

Two different types of black cardamon

December 3, 2012
Thumbnail image for Two different types of black cardamon

The smaller black cardamon on the left are ones I buy in my local Indian stores and have been using recently in a rose petal garam masala I’ve been creating.  The larger black cardamon pods on the right are new to me, they arrived today, I’ve bought them from Souschef as I was intrigued if […]

Read the full article →

Marks & Spencer macarons taste cheap

December 2, 2012
Thumbnail image for Marks & Spencer macarons taste cheap

I’ve already stated on the Ladurée macaron post here how I’m not a devotee of the macs but will appreciate the flavour of a good quality one.  In the summer when tasting some with Nicola the most memorable flavour combination I had was lime and basil, it worked really well to my surprise.  I may […]

Read the full article →

Dough Globe by the Foundry Mint Digital team

November 20, 2012
Thumbnail image for Dough Globe by the Foundry Mint Digital team

There has been a song my 5 year old sings that keeps popping into my head whenever I thought about writing this post, it goes; “I don’t want to grown up, I want to be a Toy ‘R’ Us kid…kid…kid…kid”.  When adults used to ask me as a kid, “what do you want to do […]

Read the full article →

Sourdough baked in a tin – no need for proving baskets

November 15, 2012
Thumbnail image for Sourdough baked in a tin – no need for proving baskets

This is an example of the practical thing that will be in my book, my whole aim with the book is to follow-on from the principals of this site; to demystify the world of sourdough. And Yes!  You can put the sourdough dough in a tin for the last rise just as you do a […]

Read the full article →

Muscovado Sugar (unrefined brown sugar) – the difference it can make

November 11, 2012
Thumbnail image for Muscovado Sugar (unrefined brown sugar) – the difference it can make

What may appear to be a simple baking question I find often brings about a complicated answer, and no, it’s not because I like being particularly nerdy in detail with all things food, it really comes down to baking being a complex area once you start delving into it, honest.  (I’m slightly smiling here as […]

Read the full article →

Difference between good crumb and perfect crumb – Sourdough

October 28, 2012
Thumbnail image for Difference between good crumb and perfect crumb – Sourdough

The two loaves below are both made using the same recipe and the same flour; 100% white rollermill.  I want to show the difference between a good very acceptable crumb and a perfect crumb for a white wheat loaf, sourdough.  As soon as you start mixing other flours such as rye to the recipe it […]

Read the full article →

Easy Quick Light Chocolate Cakes

October 24, 2012
Thumbnail image for Easy Quick Light Chocolate Cakes

This is the simplest easiest chocolate cake recipe which makes a very light crumb cake, cheap too as it only uses cocoa powder and vegetable oil and those two ingredients are why the cake is so light. It’s sweet enough for the kids, both the 5 year old and 17 year old have made their […]

Read the full article →

Chipotle sauce – spicy smoky versatile dressing for meat, vegetables, salads

October 20, 2012
Thumbnail image for Chipotle sauce – spicy smoky versatile dressing for meat, vegetables, salads

I gave this sauce to Nicola mixed in the black-eye bean salad last weekend, and to Monica  to add it to her fish dish this weekend and both of them raved about this sauce.  Monica who loves everything chili would happily add it to all her food.  A very versatile sauce can be used to […]

Read the full article →

Aubergine (eggplant) glazed with miso – Nasu Dengaku

October 17, 2012
Thumbnail image for Aubergine (eggplant) glazed with miso – Nasu Dengaku

I’ve made aubergine glazed with white miso for this post about 8-9 times, each time with slight changes and those adjustments make a difference to the eating experience.  I’ll go into the details in a moment but first I want to discuss the aubergine itself.  None of the nasu dengaku recipes I came across out […]

Read the full article →

Apple and Custard Tart

October 13, 2012
Thumbnail image for Apple and Custard Tart

I dreamt up this combination of a tart with a layer of apple puree topped with creamy custard last month, I imagined it in my mind tasting quite wonderful and it does.  This has become the dessert I want to eat before I die, only I would like the whole tart.  It’s apple and custard […]

Read the full article →

Baked Stuffed Apples in Pastry Dumplings

October 10, 2012
Thumbnail image for Baked Stuffed Apples in Pastry Dumplings

This is an old fashion way of baking apples.  I have vague memory of seeing apples treated this way in old cookery books but it was Catherine commenting on my site recently who reminded me of this method.  I was talking to Anne about it when she told she bakes cooking apples this way all […]

Read the full article →