Hayley's Fail Safe Cake (For Idiots Who Can't Cook)

So I was looking for a recipe in the 'cupboard of cookbooks' in my house, and I suddenly remembered this cake. It was (and is) one of my all time favorites for a birthday, and also any other time. One time, we made this cake using one big round tin, then we cut it in half to be able to make it a layer cake. We made this delicious whipped cream icing that we had fresh whipped from some heavy whipping cream, and then spread it around both halves of the cake. Once we had covered the bottom piece, we layered cut up strawberries and raspberries and blueberries around the inside of the cake. We then put the top piece of the cake on top of that and covered it in our whipped cream icing and the covered the top of that with the fruits. I remember making it with my mom a few years ago, and thinking that it was the best cake in the world for two reasons. 1.) It was the easiest birthday cake/holiday cake to make in the whole world. As the title of the cake says, it is fail safe, I mean even the guys in Dumb and Dumber could make this cake without screwing it up.  2.) It does not take too long to cook. It only takes about 30-35 minutes to cook! I made a cake the other day and it had to cook for 2 1/2 hours! That is crazy long!  3.) It tastes delicious.
This cake will also only take you about 10 minutes of prep time so, lets get started!

Image Curtesy of Emoji Stickers

The Ingredients (will make 50 mini cupcakes):

3 Eggs
The Same Weight of Sugar
The Same Weight of Softened Butter
The Same Weight of Self-Rising Flour
1 Tablespoon of Water

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 325º Fahrenheit.
Weigh 3 eggs on a scale, then set them aside. Add the same weight as the eggs in sugar and softened butter. Slowly beat them together.
When mixed, add in the 3 eggs, and then the same weight of self-rising flour. Mix together the mixture and once it is mixed, add the 1 tablespoon of water. Mix.
Once the batter is complete and mixed, pour it into a lined tin of your choice. This could be a round tin for making round cakes, or it could be 2 smaller round tins so you can stack the cake to make a layer cake, or it could be a bread loaf tin.
Put it in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
To test if it is ready, stab a sharp knife into the cake. If it comes out clean, then it is finished. If it has still got batter stuck to it, then it needs another 5 minutes in the oven.

If you enjoyed making (and eating) this cake, then be sure to check back here to themoodfoods next week for more delicious recipes on how to be great great chef that can make and create delicious meals which can be served at any time.

Image Curtesy of Sugar Bakery & Cafe

Banoffe Pie (the oddest name for a pie you will ever hear)

So, today we are going to do things a little bit differently. Upside down you might call it.

We are going to start with the recipe, then we are going to have a little blurb thing after...

The Ingredients (I know what you're thinking. Yes, this is the boring part, but it has to be done):
Also, credits go to allrecipies.com for the ingredients and procedure!

1 1/2 cups of digestive biscuit crumbs
1 cup of butter
1/2 cup of white sugar
3 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 (14 ounces) can of sweetened, condensed milk
2 bananas (sliced)
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 chocolate bar (grated, milk chocolate preferably)

Procedure:

Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter or margarine, and ginger until well blended. Then press the mixture into a 9 inch pie plate. Make sure to press it evenly around the pan, and eliminate any imperfections. Following this, cool it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

In a sauce pan, boil an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for 3 hours. Monitor the water closely, making sure there is always water in the pan. Remove the can from the heat and let it cool for 10-15 minutes.

Open the the can and pour the toffee into the pie crust. Allow to cool.

Evenly slice bananas over toffee.

Whip 2 cups of whipping cream and spoon it on top of the bananas. Refrigerate before serving.

The sweetened, condensed milk is boiling in a pan for 3 hours.

Follow these instructions and you too, can be a great chef like I have become through my hard work and dedication to food of all sorts. Now that you have made your delicious Bannoffee pie, it is time for our blurb.

I wanted to tell you why I chose to write about Banoffee pie. My lovely Aunt Helen came to visit during Christmas break, and she chose to make a delicious stir fry dinner (I will share the recipe with you on another post). Afterwards, having made a huge deal of the situation, she brought out from the refrigerator, a massive Banoffee pie. As I laid eyes on the spectacular dessert, filled with bananas, toffee and topped off with a sprinkling of delicate chocolate curls, my mouth would not stop watering. I remember being so ecstatic at the sight of the pie, because the last time I had eaten it was back when I was 8 years old, living in boring New York. It was one of my favorite 'puddings,' as the british would say, from when I was younger. It is so delicious with the crunchy digestive biscuit base, with a delicious rich, and sugary toffee layer, topped with whipped cream, and if you want,  some grated chocolate sprinkled over the top. Soo good! Make sure to try this delightful and famous British treat, perhaps after a meal or even as an afternoon snack. Whichever way you choose to enjoy Banoffee Pie, be sure to check back to themoodfoods next week for more expert tips and great new recipes! See you next time, xoxo.

Clam Chowder Tuesday

So last night IT SNOWED!!! I can't believe it's WINTER! Winter is the best season of all because of one, and only one sport:SKIING. Skiing is the best sport of all. You get to race down the hill on two wooden boards, at top speeds and you feel just like you're flying, except that your feet are still on the ground. You fly down to the bottom of the hill, and then you get on the chairlift which effortlessly takes you back up to the top of the hill. I could spend all day just going up and down on the ski hill, except if it weren't for that darn thing called cold. You are having the time of your life soaring up and down the hill, and then your fingers start to sting and go numb, and if you don't head inside to the warmth soon, it starts to spread to your toes, your arms, your legs, and eventually, you get so cold that you keel over and die. I'm just kidding! you don't die, but you do get unbearably cold if you don't go inside and warm up. Once you do go inside though,it is like a warm bliss hitting you full in the face. The sensation of walking into the lodge, and smelling all of the delicious food that you can buy for lunch. MMM MM MMM. The best way to warm yourself from the inside out is to buy just a small hot chocolate and drink it nice and slowly so that you can feel all of you being heated up from the inside. Another good way is to head yourself over to the food area of the lodge and to order yourself up a   nice     hot     bowl     of soup. You can get it in a bread bowl, or just the simple, classic way and eat it spoonful by spoonful. One of the best soups I know is is the Clam Chowder. I know I know, you're saying to yourself, ugh, this is just going to be another stupid recipe about clam chowder :(

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But seriously, I really think that you should try out this recipe for clam chowder.

It starts out as just, ooo, I think maybe tonight I'll try making clam chowder...

But then it turns into Alright everybody, instead of Taco Tuesday, it is Clam Chowder Tuesday!

Then, everyone who has tried the clam chowder says, YEA, BEST IDEA EVER! and before you know it, Clam Chowder Tuesday is a worldwide thing.
So, this amazing recipe that is going to start this Clam Chowder Tuesday things, comes from, once again, Covent Gardens Book of Soups.


As you know, we always list the ingredients for a recipe first, so here goes:

3 medium potatoes (about 700 grams) that are peeled and cut into quarters.
1.35 kilograms of baby clams in their shells
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
175 kilograms unsmoked, streaky bacon, finely chopped
1 medium onion, very finely chopped
3 sticks of celery,very finely chopped
2 teaspoons of chopped fresh thyme1 leveled tablespoon of dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon of ground white pepper
25 grams of plain white flour
570 milliliters of fish stock
150 milliliters of dry white wine
3 bay leaves
275 milliliters of double cream

The Garnish
Reserved clams in their shells
2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Prep and Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Serves: 6

As you will no doubt be guessing, this part is where I tell you the steps to making the delicious clam chowder that is going to change taco tuesdays for the rest of time.

Simmer the potatoes in plenty of salted water until they are tender. Allow them to cool and slice.

Wash the clams at least 6 times in plenty of cold water to remove all the grit. Put them into a large saucepan, cover, and place over a high heat.
Cook until the clams are just open, while shaking the pan frequently.

Image Curtesy of Clam Chowder In A Bread Bowl

'Insert Cool Title About Fry Sauce'

So... I'm not sure if you knew, but Park City Mountain Resort OPENED YESTERDAY! I mean, how exciting is that?!? I was so sad the other day when the resort opened and everyone was saying "Opening day! First runs! Having so much FUN!" But sadly, I couldn't go skiing because I hadn't gotten my ski pass yesterday so I couldn't ski, but I got my pass this morning so I took my FIRST RUN OF THE SEASON! I was so excited when I was putting on my ski boots and unstrapping my skis, then loading the chair, putting on my poles and skiing down the hill. I mean what could be more fun than the first run of the day on your first day of the season. Ahhh, hang on a second, I remember what there is... Fry Sauce. If you have never had fry sauce then you are seriously missing out. People here in Utah seem to think that fry sauce is a very Utah thing, but it really isn't. I remember when I lived in New York, I skied at a resort in Vermont called Jay Peak, and my friends there ate their fries with fry sauce, only they called it something different. Anyways, back to the fry sauce. You don't really need that many ingredients, and they're probably already in your pantry. So, here we go..

Ingredients:

Ketchup

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Mayonnaise

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Fries (or some other sort of thing that you would have put Ketchup on)

Method:

Put an even amount of Ketchup and Mayonnaise in a bowl (or whatever other container you have) and mix together.
Dip your fries into the Fry Sauce and enjoy!

Don't worry if you don't want to follow this recipe religiously, so mix it up a little and add your own little touch. I know for a fact that my little brother prefers his fry sauce with Barbecue sauce, and my sister prefers her fry sauce with more Mayonnaise than Ketchup, and my Dad, he prefers his with more Ketchup than Mayonnaise.

Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

This soup is getting into the spirit of halloween with pumpkins. I bet you just got finished carving your halloween pumpkin with a huge scary face, and now have pumpkin guts all over the floor. So the question now is, what to do with them? Luckily for you guys, I have here a perfect recipe to get rid of those gross looking guts and turn them into something delicious. I was looking on the web for a good pumpkin soup, or something pumpkin because, as you are probably counting down the days to halloween, there's only a week left! I found this great pumpkin soup recipe and thought, y'know, I bet thet everyone else is looking for halloween pumpkin fall foods, so I should share this with them. If you want to see some of the other soup recipes that they have, go to the goodfood website.
The ingredients that you will want for this recipe are:

1 tablespoon of olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
about 800 grams of chopped pumpkin flesh, plus the seeds
100 grams of split red lentils
1/2 small packet of thyme, leaves picked and extra to serve
pinch of salt and sugar
50 grams of crème fraîche, plus extra to serve

The first thing you will want to do is to heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan. Fry the onions until softened and starting to turn golden. Stir in the garlic, pumpkin flesh, lentils, and thyme, then pour in the hot stock. Season this, cover, and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are tender.

While waiting for it to simmer, wash the pumpkin seeds and remove any flesh still stuck to them and dry them with a paper towel. Heat the 1 teaspoon of oil in a non-stick pan and fry the pumpkin seeds until they start to jump and pop. Stir the seeds frequently, but put a lid on the pan when you are not stirring them so that they don't jump out of the pan. Once the seeds look nutty and toasted, add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar, and stir well.

"Whizz" or blend the cooked pumpkin mixture in a food processor until it is smooth, and then add the crème fraîche and "whizz" or blend again. Taste it for seasoning.

Serve the soup with a spoonful of the crème fraîche, a few of the thyme leaves, and the toasted seeds on top.

Enjoy!

Image Curtesy of bbcgoodfoods

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

So I was watching cupcakes wars on TV last night, did you know that they have cupcake wars on Netflix? It just made my day because now I can go back and re-watch some of the first episodes and seasons. Anyway, back to the cupcakes. I was watching cupcake wars (on Netflix) and was thinking to myself, "I should make some cupcakes, they probably won't look as good as those and it will probably look stupid me decorating a bunch of cupcakes and putting things like pulled sugar and chocolate on top as decorations, so maybe I shouldn't make cupcakes because they won't look as good." But then I said to myself that I was being stupid and I should just make cupcakes and make them taste good because that is the only part that matters. I started looking through my shelf of cookbooks and pulled out Jamie Oliver: Happy Days with the Naked Chef. I started riffling through it  I found this recipe for sticky toffee cupcakes with a chocolate topping.

This recipe will make about 12 servings
The ingredients are:

30 grams (1 oz) sultanas
30 grams (1 oz) dried apricots
30 grams (1 oz) dates
1 teaspoon baking powder
140 grams (5 oz) self-raising flour
30 grams (1 oz) muscovado sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 large egg
30 grams (1 oz) melted butter
140 milliliter (5 fluid oz) hot water

To make the chocolate topping, you will need:

40 grams (1 1/2 oz) butter
40 grams (1 1/2 oz) caster sugar
40 grams (1 1/2 oz) plain chocolate
70 milliliter (2 1/2 fluid oz) double cream

The first step as always, is to preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Then, mix the sultanas, apricots, dates, baking powder, and just enough flower to stop the fruits from sticking to the blades, in a food processor (If you don't have food processor then just chop it up very finely).

Next, put the mixture you just made into a bowl with the muscovado sugar, the golden syrup, the egg, and the melted butter. Stir together.

Once stirred, add the hot water and remaining flower and mix well with a whisk.

Divide this mixture between 12 cupcake liners and put them in the oven for about 15 minutes.

While the cupcakes are cooking, melt the chocolate topping ingredients in a pan and bubble for a bit until the color darkens slightly. Take the mixture off the heat and let it cool until it thickens. Put a blob of the chocolate mixture on top of each cupcake.

Image curtesy of Jamie Oliver 

Pumpkin Bread

Since it is fall season, and everyone is going crazy over Pumpkin Spice Lattes, I figured, why not give you a good snack to go with that PSL? I personally love the baking book that I am using right now, it is called The Grand Central Baking Book. You cannot actually see their recipes, for that you would have to buy the book (that is not such a bad idea, if you love baking as much as me, then I would recommend that because it has amazing recipes for treats that they bake for their shop.) I used to live in New York and would never pass through Grand Central without checking out their latest creations!

The recipe that they use is:

3 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice (see bottom for instructions)
1/3 cup of vegetable oil or canola oil
1 2/3 cups of granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups of packed brown sugar
2 cups of pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/3 cup of water
1/3 cup of buttermilk

The first step to make your cake/pumpkin bread/whatever it is you're making is always to turn on the oven. For this recipe, you will want to turn it on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and to lightly grease and flour two 9 by 5 inch pans.
The next step is to combine all of the dry ingredients, so you would want to measure out the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. You want to put all of this into a bowl and whisk it to combine. (whisking has been shown to mix and aerate the flour just as much as double sieving)
Next, combine the oil, sugar and pumpkin puree in your mixer bowl. (Ideally, you will want to use a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment, but if you don't have one of those, an electric hand held mixer would probably be fine as well). Mix the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and pumpkin puree on a medium/low speed until it is well blended. This will take about 2 minutes.
The next step is to crack the eggs into a liquid measuring cup. Whisk them together and then slowly pour the eggs into the mixture, with the mixer on low speed. Only add the next bit of egg once the last has been completely mixed in.
The final step is to add the remaining wet and dry ingredients. You will want to alternate between wet (water and buttermilk) and dry, so start by pouring 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the mixture and combining them on low speed. Then you want to add the water, mix well, and add half of the remaining dry ingredients. Once they are incorporated, add in all of the buttermilk. Add the last of the dry ingredients and mix just until they are combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and pour the batter equally into the two pans.
You will want to bake for 60 to 75 minutes, while rotating the pans every 20 minutes. When they are finished they should be dark golden brown with cracked tops and if you stick a skewer or fork into it, it should come out clean.

Image Curtesy Of Dana Treat

To make the Pumpkin Pie Spice, you will need:

1/4 cup of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of ground ginger
1 tablespoon of ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon of ground cloves
1 tablespoon of ground allspice

To make the pumpkin pie spice, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and stir them with a fork until they are well combined. You can store it if you want for up to 3 months in a cool, dry place, however I find there are always plenty of ways to use these wonderful spices and mine never seems to last more than a few weeks!

Carrot And Coriander Soup

When was the last time you made a soup and everyone who ate it said, "Oooo, this is delicious, is there anymore?" I know that I am not yet a mom, so I can't really say that I have cooked for my children, because lets face it, I'm still thirteen, but I am almost fourteen! Only two more months, YAY! Anyway, back to food, I am still a teenager, but I have made dinner at home a bunch of times, and believe it or not, it is really fun! The best part is when I put it on the table, and even my eight year old brother says "That smells delicious Daisy." One of my personal favorite soups to make is a Carrot and Coriander, and it is such a simple recipe, I could make it in my sleep. For a lot of soups that I like to make, I will usually go to the Allrecipes website, but today I am using the New Covent Garden's Book of Soups.

The ingredients that the New Covent Garden's Book of Soups has are:

• 25 grams(1oz) butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed 
• 550 grams(1 1/4 lb) carrots
• 450 grams(1 lb) of which are roughly chopped
• 110 grams(4 oz) of which are coarsely grated
• 1 liter(1 3/4 pint) vegetable stock
• a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
• 150 mL(1/4 pint) single cream
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

The only other things you need are garnishes:

• 150 mL(1/4pint) yogurt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

I personally leave out the yogurt just because I like it better plain, but I know that some people do like it with yogurt. I also only put a little bit of coriander, a pinch or two of fresh chopped coriander on each bowl.

The preparation and cooking time comes to a total of 40 minutes, and this recipe will serve about six servings.

To start off, you melt the butter in a covered saucepan and cook the onion and garlic until they are soft, without coloring. Then you add the roughly chopped carrots, vegetable stock, and nutmeg. You cover the pan and bring it to a boil and let it simmer gently until the veggies are tender. let them cool for a bit and then puree them in a liquidizer (I use a vitimix blender) and then put the soup in a clean saucepan and stir in the grated carrots, coriander, and cream. Taste the soup to see if it needs any salt or pepper and then if you want to put yogurt in this is when you add it and the coriander on top.

This is one of my all time favorite soup recipes and I highly suggest that you try it.

Image Curtesy Of My French Country Home