Easy Carrot Cake Traybake Slices

Readers, how are you all managing?  It's a crazy time we're living in, is it not? 

I hope you're all doing your bit to stay safe just now. I've been spending a lot of time in my kitchen recently, trying out new recipes.  My traybakes are always well received, so I've been working on a new one.

This is a carrot cake traybake that's (a little) healthier as this carrot cake is made with a simple frosting, rather than a cream cheese one, which helps keep the calories down.  The sunflower oil also replaces butter, which I think makes it marginally better.

This is a super easy carrot cake traybake recipe which I pulled together in about half an hour the other night. I'm sorry I took so few photos of the process - you'll just need to trust me here!

Anyway, let me know if you give this carrot cake traybake a go during lockdown (or beyond).

Stay safe out there!

Carrot Cake Traybake Slices 

Ingredients 

1.5 cups SR Flour
1 cup golden caster sugar
1/2 cup sunflower oil
3 mediums eggs
Splash vanilla essence
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp ginger
1 large grated carrot.
Splash milk to loosen.
Icing sugar and water for topping 

Method 

1. Heat oven to 160c fan
2. Grease and line a 8x8in brownie pan
3. Grate carrot into bowl.
4. Add oil and 3 eggs and vanilla. Mix.
5. Add golden caster sugar, mix
6. Sift in flower and mix. Mix will be quite thick so add a little milk to loosen.
7. Pour mix into prepared tin and bake for around 30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Turn out onto wire rack and cool.
9. Once cold, spread a thick icing sugar and water paste on top and allow to set.
10. Once set, trim edges then cut into slices. Mix should make around 10 slices or 20 pieces if slices are halved.

Smarties Cookies Recipe

Readers, this weekend, the baking went back to basics.  Cookies. Big, soft, American style. And super easy to make. I made Smarties Cookies.  I honestly love these.  Smarties cookies just remind me of being a kid. 

Plus, you can put anything in - oatmeal, raisins, chocolate chips, raspberries... you get the picture.  This time, I went back to my childhood with Smarties.

I remember as a kid, being given the odd treat with a smarties cookie on a stick from a well known high street cookie chain. I remember them being huuuuuge (possibly because I was so little) and being ridiculously chewy. Little did I know, they were so simple to make.

I made a half batch of the recipe as nobody was visiting this weekend and as I write this on Sunday afternoon, they are already gone.

Smarties Cookies

Recipe makes 16 cookies

Ingredients

220g unsalted butter (softened)
225g caster sugar
115g soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
315g plain flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
100 Smarties (5-6 per cookie)

Method

1. Cream butter, caster sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Use an electric mixer if you have one.

Getting ready to cream the butter, sugar and essence

2. Beat eggs together in a separate bowl and gradually add to sugar and butter mix using electric mixer until fluffy.
3. Add baking powder and salt to the flour and sift into the eggs, sugar and butter. Fold together using a metal spoon. You should create a dough, once flour is folded in. Bring together into a ball.
4. Transfer dough ball to a clean bowl and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 40 minutes, ideally an hour, until dough has firmed up.

Chilling the dough in the fridge

5. Whilst dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 190 degrees/ Fan 170 degrees/ Gas 4.  Cover baking trays with greaseproof paper.
6. Remove dough from fridge and using your hands roll 18 small balls of dough.  Place onto baking sheets, spaced well apart (no more than 4 cookies per baking sheet).
7. Flatten each ball slightly and place 5 smarties on the top of each cookie.

Make sure your cookies are well spaced out

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are golden on top (not brown!)
9. Remove from oven, allow to cook on tray for a few moments to ensure cookies retain their shape. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cookies cooling on the rack

10. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days... or eat immediately! 

Didn't last long...

Claire's Tips

1. Make sure cookie balls are even in size before baking otherwise you will have seriously oddly sized cookies!

2. Make sure to chill the dough, otherwise cookies wont keep their shape (cue one tray sized cookie).
3. You are aiming for a chewy consistency, so cookies should be soft when removed from oven.

Chocolate Honeycomb Crunchie Traybake

Readers, since I started taking this blogging malarkey a bit more seriously and looking at my stats, I’ve realised that it’s actually my traybake recipes which are generating the most traffic on the site.

It’s ages since I made a proper traybake and my favourite ones are those which involve a little experimentation! Cadburys Crunchie Traybake is delicious.  Honestly. I make it for so many bake sales and it always goes down a treat. 

As you all know, I love chocolate.  But if I had to pick, a Cadbury’s Crunchie would come out on top.   It has to be my favourite everyday chocolate.

Whilst working on this recipe, I considered buying a load of Crunchies and smashing them up.  Instead, I challenged myself and made my own honeycomb from scratch, for the traybake.

This is also a no-bake recipe – so it is easy to do with kids.  If you are pushed for time, you could buy some Crunchie bars, rather than making your own honeycomb.

I also swapped the standard digestive biscuit base, for a humble McVities Hobnob base…  A really good new dimension.

Chocolate Honeycomb Crunchie Traybake

Ingredients (Makes 15 – 16 pieces)

For the Honeycomb:

100g caster sugar

2 heaped dessert spoons Lyles Golden Syrup

1½  teaspoons bicarobonate of soda

For the Traybake:

200g McVities Hobnob Biscuits

100g butter

2 heaped dessert spoons golden syrup

250g milk chocolate (suitable for baking – 150g for the mix and 100g for the top)

¾ of the honeycomb you have made for the base

¼ of the honeycomb for the topping

Honeycomb Method

1. Firstly, make your honeycomb. Grease a silicone bakeware 8in square tin with a little vegetable oil.
2. Add your caster sugar and golden syrup into a non stick pan and stir. Heat until the mix comes to the boil, then simmer over a low heat for around 5-6 minutes.  Test to see if it’s ready by dropping a little of the mix into a cup of water.  If the mix hardens quickly and is crunchy, not chewy, it’s ready. (Be careful not to burn it).

   

   Starting the honeycomb process

   
   

   

   Simmering the honeycomb

3. Remove pan from the heat and quickly whisk in the bicarbonate of soda until fully combined and the mix has frothed up.  Then quickly pour the mix into your bakeware and allow to settle by itself. Don’t touch or it will flatten.
4. Leave to cool and fully harden.  (I find transferring to the fridge helps).

   

   Honeycomb setting in the fridge

5. Immediately put your pan and wooden spoon into hot soapy water to clean (otherwise you’ll be chiseling the mix off for hours!)
6. Once cooled, smash up the honeycomb into small pieces, suitable for your traybake.

Traybake Method

1. Line a square 8in silicone bakeware tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Add the butter, 150g chocolate and golden syrup to a medium non stick pan.  Melt all the ingredients over a low heat until smooth and combined.

   

   Melt the ingredients in a non stick pan

3. Meanwhile, add the biscuits to a well sealed freezer bag and crush into small pieces, for your biscuit base.
4. Once the chocolate mix is fully melted and combined, allow to cool, off the heat, for a couple of minutes, then, stir in the biscuits and mix until fully covered.

   

   Mix in the biscuits

5. Transfer the mix to your silicone bakeware and use a wooden spoon, flatten out and push out into the corners of the bakeware until you have a smooth base. Then, sprinkle around ¾ of the smashed honeycomb over the base and push down lightly so it sticks to the base, but isn't covered.  Transfer to the fridge to set for around an hour.

   

   Honeycomb on top of the base

6. Put feet up and drink tea, in a chilled out fashion.
7. When your hour is almost up, melt the remaining 100g of chocolate in a glass bowl, over a pan of barely simmering water. 
8. Remove the traybake from the fridge and pour over the melted chocolate. Then, sprinkle over the remaining small pieces of honeycomb and return to the fridge to fully set.

   

   Pour over the chocolate and sprinkle with remaining honeycomb

   
   9. Cut into squares and serve.   The traybake will keep for around 3-4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Serve up with a lovely cup of tea!

Milk and White Chocolate Malteser Traybake Cake

Hi Readers,

I'm in the process of updating a number of my old favourite recipes (thank you Google who no longer picks up some of my old posts).

Today it's one of my favourite things - the milk and white chocolate maltester tray bake cake.

It's a no bake, set in the fridge kind of cake, which is perfect for baking with kids.  My Maltester tray bake cake is delicious and still a family favourite even now.

So my other love is chocolate. Lots of it.  Give me it in milk, dark or white format.  Throw in vanilla or chilli if you like.  I don’t care.  It’s chocolate.  I like it melted, spread on toast, in hot drinks and even in my candles.

You get it… I LOVE CHOCOLATE.   It’s definitely one of life’s little pleasures. Even when it’s the day before payday, I can still afford a bar of Galaxy before the gas bill.

So, when I found this amazing recipe at bakingmad.com I couldn't resist it.

The recipe was first shown on Channel 4, so I knew before I started that it was unlikely to go wrong.

Chocolate Honeycomb Squares (taken from Bakingmad.com)

100g unsalted butter

200g milk chocolate (I used a supermarket cake covering)

3tbsp golden syrup

225g digestive biscuits broken down (own label products are great for this)

1 family bag Maltesers (chopped)

Topping

100g chopped Maltesers

50g melted white chocolate (I used a value own label product which did the job)

70g melted milk chocolate (I used a supermarket cake covering)

 

Lay out your ingredients before you start

Get ready for some biscuit bashing!!

Method

1. Line a square 20x20cm tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a medium pan placed over a gentle heat, melt together the butter, chocolate and syrup. Stir the mixture continuously as it begins to melt, once it is smooth and everything combined, remove from the heat and place to one side. The golden syrup gives it a great flavour!
3. Using a sharp knife, roughly cut the honeycomb balls. Place digestive biscuits in a bag and lightly crush with a rolling pin so you have nice chunky pieces. Add these to the cooled chocolate mixture and stir to incorporate. Pour into your lined square tin, press down with a metal spoon so you have a smooth, even surface and place in the fridge to chill until set. (Around 1 hour).

   

   Ready to chill in the fridge

4. To decorate, melt the milk chocolate. Spread a layer of melted milk chocolate over the surface of the chilled fridge cake and smooth out. Then sprinkle over the top of the melted milk chocolate your chopped Maltesers. Using a teaspoon, drizzle over the top of the cake with lines of melted white chocolate. Using a sharp knife, first score into squares, then cut through the score marks.

   

   Decorated and ready to be scored

Store in refrigerator until serving. The traybake will keep in an airtight container, in the fridge for a few days (but I guarantee it wont last that long)!

Let's eat!!!

Claire’s Baking Tips

• Silicone bakeware is ideal for this as it’s flexible and is easier to prize the cake out once chilled. 
• Don’t worry if you are on a budget – own label ingredients are absolutely fine to use.
• Don’t break the digestives too small, as the cake will lose its bite.
• Try this recipe if you want to impress with something that’s really easy.  Even the most novice baker can give this a go, as there’s no cooking involved, only melting chocolate.

I’m now thinking of other ways to put my own spin on this recipe.  I’m thinking about trying a mint aero version next.  Or perhaps Galaxy Minstrels with freeze-dried raspberries?

Until next time, happy baking! 

Mint Aero Traybake

So after the success of the recent White and Milk Chocolate Malteser traybake (and inspiring some non baking friends to try it out) I stuck to my guns and tried the recipe again with some cheeky changes.

Half the fun of baking is creating something new from an existing recipe.

So, I took the bakingmad recipe from last time and swapped the Maltesers for Mint Aero Bubbles (another one of my vices!)

It worked.  Thankfully.  I was concerned that the lack of crunch in the Aeros would make for a very soft traybake, so I compensated for this by making the biscuit pieces a bit bigger this time.  

The other thing I realised – let the melted chocolate, butter and syrup mix cool a little before adding the Aero.  Because it’s a softer consistency than Maltesers, it has a tendency to melt into the mixture, leaving a nice mint taste but a lack of bubbles. Obviously you don’t want the mix to be so cold it’s almost set, but leave it a few moments before pouring the Aeros in and mixing them with the biscuits.

My other learning curve, was don’t add green food colouring to melted white chocolate.  I thought I’d be smart and colour the white chocolate green for the mint theme, but when I added the food colouring to the melted chocolate, it thickened it up instantly and wouldn’t pour.  I then popped it back in the microwave to reheat and… it went solid.  So solid (like the 00s band… remember them… 21 seconds?!) that I had to chisel it out of the cup.  Baking Fail.

So this time I topped the traybake with halved mint aero balls and white chocolate, however it also works with milk choc. Chocolate and mint is always a winning combination.

So here’s how to make it…

Mint Aero Traybake (adapted from Bakingmad.com)

100g unsalted butter

200g milk chocolate cake covering (I used Silver Spoon)

3tbsp golden syrup                                                   

225g digestive biscuits broken down (own label products are great for this)

1 family bag Mint Aero Bubbles (halved)

Topping

½ family bag Mint Aero Bubbles (halved)

200g melted milk chocolate cake covering or white chocolate if you prefer

Method

1. Line a square 20x20cm tin with greaseproof paper.

2. In a medium pan placed over a gentle heat, melt together the butter, chocolate and syrup. Stir the mixture continuously as it begins to melt, once it is smooth and everything combined, remove from the heat and place to one side. The golden syrup gives it a great flavour! Leave to cool slightly.

3. Using a sharp knife, roughly half the Mint Aero Bubbles. Place digestive biscuits in a bag and lightly crush with a rolling pin so you have nice chunky pieces. Add these to the cooled chocolate mixture and stir to incorporate. Add the halved Mint Aero Bubbles at a point when the mix is cool enough not to melt completely. Pour into your lined square tin, press down with a metal spoon so you have a smooth, even surface and place in the fridge to chill until set. (Around 1 hour).

Keep the bubbles halved - any smaller - they will get lost

Keep the biscuits a decent size as the Mint Aero Bubbles are soft

Big bubbles!!! Add the chocolate once the mix has cooled a little

4. To decorate, melt the milk chocolate cake covering or white chocolate, depending what you prefer. Spread a layer of melted chocolate over the surface of the chilled fridge cake and smooth out. Leave to cool for a few minutes. Then sprinkle over the top of the melted chocolate your halved Mint Aero Bubbles. Using a sharp knife, first score into squares, then cut through the score marks.

5. Store in refrigerator until serving. They will keep in an airtight container, in the fridge for a few days (but I guarantee they wont last that long)!

Claire’s Baking Tips

• Don’t be afraid to use cake covering. It’s ideal for these recipes, as standard chocolate has a tendency to separate when the butter and syrup is added.
• Don’t add the aero bubbles right away, as they will melt.  Let your mix cool ever so slightly, so the bubbles hold their shape. 
• Experiment!  Most chocolate products in share size bags will work as part of this recipe. 

Scottish Staycation - A Trip to The Stair Arms, Midlothian near Edinburgh

Readers, how are you?!  Surviving this rainy, windy and generally awful winter where we left the EU, then Coronavirus came, then we tried to avoid the multitude of storms that had names?  Sorry, I’ll stop.

On a cheerier note, this Glasgow travel (and food) blogger, headed off on a staycation with Mr What Claire Did last weekend, to The Stair Arms, a lovely family owned traditional coaching inn, at Pathhead, Midlothian (for those of you from further afield – nearish to Edinburgh). We were gifted a dinner, bed and breakfast stay at the hotel.

The Stair Arms is family owned and we were greeted by some lovely members of the family during our stay – from the girl on reception when we arrived, to our waitress at dinner.

The hotel has recently undergone an intensive refurbishment programme, with the rooms and bathrooms being refurbished, followed by the bar and restaurant area in the main part of the hotel.  It’s modern Scottish – with touches of tartan – painted in hues of sage and light grey.  It feels cosy and welcoming, yet not twee.

The hotel is on the main route to the borders – making for a great pit stop if you’re on a tour of Scotland, or for a quick lunch or takeaway coffee on a long drive.   We stayed in room 11, which had big windows and view of the garden, complete with picnic tables – a great summer beer garden, just sadly not to be visited during our visit, as the latest of the storms raged on outside The Stair Arms during our visit!

We arrived late afternoon and made ourselves a cuppa with the tea and coffee facilities in the room, then watched some tv from the comfort of our big, soft bed.  The room was clean and spacious, with modern décor and bedlinen.  There was a decent selection of biscuits…. 3 packets!  Although confession, we didn’t get around to eating them as we’d booked in for dinner.

The Stair Arms restaurant is popular with both residents and locals from the community.  It was busy when we arrived at 8pm on Saturday night, with couples and family groups celebrating special occasions.  The hotel had two menus – their regular menu with bar favourites and then the Steakhouse menu, which had a special 50% off deal.  The hotel run this regularly during the winter months – keep an eye out as it’s excellent value.   We had starters from the regular menu – I enjoyed the shredded beef, which came deep fried in batter and served with chilli sauce.  Mr What Claire Did had the chicken liver pate, served with oatcakes and a side salad.  Both were generous starter portions and arrived hot from the kitchen.

With such a great deal on the steakhouse menu, we went for the venison chateaubriand for two at an amazing £25 FOR BOTH OF US. We honestly couldn’t believe it.  Perthshire venison, cooked medium to our liking (properly seared and rested before service) with tomatoes, mushrooms, onion rings and triple cooked chips.   We’ve never ordered chateaubriand before, for fear that there isn’t enough meat and you leave hungry, however, this was definitely not an issue at The Stair Arms.  Deal didn’t mean small portions!  There was plenty of food to go around us both and we definitely didn’t feel hungry.

We spotted someone ordering the Tomahawk which was HUGE and at £33 as part of the deal, it was a total bargain.  A fillet steak with sides came in at £15 and all we watched a number of diners enjoying the special deal. It’s rare to see this on a Saturday night where we live, however, it clearly brought the locals out even in the worst of weather and it’s lovely to see the community supporting their local restaurant.

Feeling it would be rude not to take advantage of the desserts on offer to us, Mr What Claire did ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding (arriving as a slab!) and I went for an ice cream sundae with meringue. Both of us struggled to finish our desserts, but what we did manage was lovely.

Full of food, we headed back to our room and enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep – it was so quiet – in our cozy room.  Despite the storm outside, with the thick curtains shut and the heating on, we were warm and comfortable.

Breakfast was served in the restaurant where we’d been the night before, with a selection of small cereal boxes and orange juice to help yourself to, on the bar.    Toast was brought to our table and we were offered either tea or coffee.  Breakfast is included in the room rate, however, non residents can also pop by and enjoy the cooked menu, priced from £2.95 for a breakfast roll, to £9.95 for a full breakfast platter.

We’d had so much for dinner, we didn’t have a huge amount, however, both ordered a breakfast roll which was on a toasted scotch morning roll, with plenty of filling and plenty of sauce to set us up for the day.

I can’t fault the staff at the hotel – they were friendly, professional and nothing was too much bother.  We had a small issue with the hot water in our room which I mentioned on departure (old plumbing – we understand!) which was dealt with professionally by the lady at front of house on checkout.   The hotel is great value for those passing through the area, or perhaps attending a wedding or function at the hotel, with a double room including breakfast priced at £75.00 during peak season.  We’d consider this good value and have paid much more to stay at hotels not nearly as clean or well decorated.    It was lovely to have an overnight stay in an independently owned Scottish hotel, that didn’t feel like the sorts of soulless corporate hotels we keep finding across the country!

The Stair Arms serves food from 8am to 9pm and for more information and to book visit their website.    You can also follow the hotel on Facebook and Instagram.

Disclaimer - we were gifted an overnight stay at the hotel, including dinner. Any opinions expressed are my own. 

Restaurant Review: Umi Japanese Cuisine, Stockbridge

Readers! Happy New Year to you all (can I still say it after midway through the month?) I’m back on the wagon again with some sort of routine, have quit chocolates for breakfast and am using my alarm again in the morning.

Last weekend, as a reward for his patience in visiting countless interior stores with me in the last few months, I took Mr WhatClaireDid as my plus one to a review of  Umi Japanese Cuisine in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.  For those of you not in the know, Stockbridge is a cool ‘hood in Edinburgh to wander around in – lots of independents stores, cafes, restaurant and a high quality charity shop or two, if you enjoy a rake around.

 

Interior of Umi Japanese Cuisine, Stockbridge, Edinburgh 

We were invited along to try out Umi’s menu and this is genuine – I loved the place.  My last meal on earth would probably be Asian cuisine of some description and I can’t remember the last time we went somewhere that the food was so fresh and delicious.

Umi is located on Deanhaugh Street in Stockbridge, in a basement – something I love, as you never know what you’re getting until you step through the front door. At Umi, Edinburgh, you’ll be greeted with lanterns, bench seating for groups, small tables for two or four and the delicious scent of a kitchen punching above it’s weight with Japanese food in Edinburgh.

Authentic interiors at Umi

We sat at a bench big enough for four (or in our case, just two… we ordered a lot of food to share).  The staff were really polite and helpful – making some recommendations to try, including the Octopus balls which are a favourite of diners at Umi Japanese Cuisine.  A little like a Spanish croquette, with octopus in the middle, deep fried.

After spending longer than we should have running through the menu, we started with a  few of Umi Japanese Cuisine’s small dishes priced between £4 and £10 for sharing.  Here, we enjoyed the Kara-age Fried Chicken, Chicken and Vegetable Gyoza Takoyaki (fried octopus dough balls).  Each of these three dishes was priced at under £5, which we felt was great value for the quality and the amount of food we received.

 We both felt it wasn’t great to come to Umi Japanese Cuisine in Edinburgh and not try their sushi which is hand rolled by their skilled chefs. We opted for a an 8 piece Crunch Soy Roll selection, which priced at £9.90, was filled with tempura prawn, avocado, a soy paper and topped with eel sauce, dill sauce and crispy fried onions.  The onions were great to give some crunch to the dish and I wasn’t shy in enjoying some soy sauce dipping with these – poured from the lovely Japanese soy teapots on the table!

Not content with just enjoying the smaller plates, we both opted to try the rice bowls, which were the standout dish of the visit – neither of us having a clue what was coming.   I will say that we probably could have ordered one less small plate, as we were starting to get full by this point, but carried on regardless!

The rice bowls were such a surprise – amazing value and a bit of theatre. I had the salmon fried rice whilst Mr WhatClaireDid opted for the chashu fried rice, which was servied with pork belly.

The dishes arrived in roasting hot stone bowls, we were presented with a smalls sauce bowl on the side and encouraged to pour this in, then use the cutlery to mix everything around. 

The heat from the bowls, combined with the liquid started to fry the rice and the meat/fish at the table.  We had no idea we’d be frying our own rice… was it great?  Absolutely.  It added an extra dimension to the experience and the bowls kept their heat, so by adding a little more soy, you could keep on cookin’ at the table.  

Again, these were great value – priced at £8.90 for the pork and £10.90 for the salmon. They are also really filling – so either order one between two, or perhaps go easy on the smaller plates.

 We were really delighted by our Umi Japanese Cuisine experience and would recommend it to both locals and tourists coming to Edinburgh.  All in, including drinks, lunch would have been around £50 for us both, which we felt was brilliant value for the amount of food we had and how delicious it was.  You could of course order less, if you’re on a budget and still leave satisfied.

Umi Japanese Cuisine is closed on Mondays and is open for dinner Tuesday to Thursday and lunch and dinner Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Find out more by visiting their Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Disclaimer – we were gifted lunch for two, in exchange for an honest review of our experience. Any opinions expressed are my own.