Recipe | Ginger & Orange Chocolate Biscuit Fridge Cake

This cool but sweet and sticky fridge cake is easy to make, ideal for sharing and better still, you don’t even need to put the oven on.

Makes 12

400g dark-chocolate digestive biscuits

400g orange-flavoured dark chocolate

200g unsalted butter

50g chopped crystalised ginger

50g white chocolate

1 Grease and line a 25cm-square baking tin.

2 Using a pestle and an aluminium baking bowl, break up the biscuits until they’re in small pieces, but not too finely crushed. Or place the biscuits in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin on them.

3 Break up the dark chocolate into small pieces and place into a bain-marie. Melt the dark chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth.

4 In a large bowl, mix the crushed biscuits, the ginger and the melted butter and chocolate until combined.

5 Pour the mixture into the baking tin and use the back of a spoon to press the mixture into the tray, getting into all the corners and flattening the top. Allow to cool and then cover with foil or baking paper and place in the fridge overnight to harden.

6 Once hardened, grate the white chocolate over the top.

Cook’s note: This will store in the fridge for up to a fortnight and also freezes well.  

This recipe is just one of the ideas for a picnic in the park (with games!) from our July issue by Kay Prestney, with photography by Rebecca Lewis. The feature also includes recipes for Watermelon Slushies, Fennel & Poppy Seed Sausage Rolls and a Halloumi and Giant Couscous Salad. When you’ve finished your park picnic, let the games commence. We have lots of ideas, including DIY Coits, Football Skittles and ‘Foxes and Rabbits’. See you in the park!

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Recipe | Emergency Brownies

Grab a mug and set destination to the microwave. This will deliver an intense chocolatey hit in two minutes flat, using only store-cupboard ingredients.

“Like their key ingredient – chocolate – brownies have a near-miraculous ability to make us feel good,” says Leah Hyslop, author of The Brownie Diaries. “A single bite sends sugar and serotonin racing through the body, ready to patch up confidence or piece together a shattered heart.”

And there’s a brownie for every occasion, as Leah explains: “A brownie can say a lot of things, very easily and very unfussily. It can say I love you; I’m sorry; I’m thinking of you; let’s be friends; are we still friends? There are people who, when looking back over their lives, can identify occasions and events by the clothes they wore, or the music they listened to. I can chart my life in brownies; from the crumbly squares I scoffed in the school canteen, to the everything-but- the-kitchen-sink blondies I inhaled with friends after a break-up. Whatever else is going on in the world, a brownie always makes things better.”

Hear, hear, we say. And with that, our gift to you, straight from The Brownie Diaries and our March issue, is Leah’s recipe for Emergency Brownies. We think one should always have the ingredients in for these, because you just never know when a brownie emergency might occur…

You will need:

3 tbsp self-raising flour
2½ tbsp caster sugar
1½ tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp melted butter or vegetable oil
4 tbsp milk (ideally whole milk)
Handful of milk chocolate chips

To make:

1 Put all the ingredients in a large mug, except for the chocolate chips. Stir together until you have something resembling a batter, making sure to scrape down the sides of the mug. Stir in the chocolate chips.

2 Microwave until set on top – this usually takes between 1 min and 1 min 30 secs (microwaves vary in power, so it’s best to cook this for 1 min, check, then blast again in 30-second increments if needed).

3 Enjoy in pyjamas, on the sofa, perhaps with a scoop of ice cream on top.

Cook’s note: Make sure to use a microwave mug without any metallic decorations, such as a gold or silver trim, as this will spark an emergency of a different variety.

This recipe is featured alongside two others from The Brownie Diaries: Utlimate Fudgy Brownies and First Day on the Job Brownies, beginning on page 82 of the March issue of The Simple Things. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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Recipe | Rye & Apple Parkin

As autumnal as piles of red leaves, this Rye & Apple Parkin is as good enjoyed with a cuppa by the fire as it is with a Thermos

Makes 12 slices

100g oatmeal or rolled oats
200g rye flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
Pinch of salt
200g unsalted butter
200g apple sauce
150g treacle
2 eggs, beaten

1 Preheat the oven to 170C/Fan 150C/ Gas 3, then line a 22cm baking tin with baking paper.

2 If using rolled oats, give them a short blitz in a food processor, until it resembles a coarse flour. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, rye, spices, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Set aside.

3 In a small saucepan over a gentle heat, melt the butter, apple sauce and treacle together. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

4 Add the cooled sauce to the dry ingredients and mix together. Add the beaten eggs and mix until thoroughly combined.

5 Tip the mixture into the lined baking tin, spread into an even layer and bake in the centre of the oven for 45 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin.

This parkin features alongside other portable snacks for an autumn woodland walk: cauliflower & cannellini bean soup and parmesan & chilli biscotti. Plus: how to make a good coffee in the wild and the best way to whittle a whistle. See what you can learn if you read the new November issue!

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Recipe | Whitby Lemon Buns

Whitby lemon buns are similar to Iced Fingers, but are usually square. The icing will harden, so for a softer version, add 1 tsp of water. 

These have been a speciality of E Botham and sons of Whitby since the 1860s, but are made by other bakers now, too. Plump, filling and beautifully zesty, they make an occasion of any cup of tea and are a cheering sight in the cake tin. Here’s how to make them yourself.

Makes 12 buns 

For the buns: 

15g dried yeast 

250ml lukewarm whole milk 

500g plain flour 

½ tsp baking powder 

60g demerara sugar 

100g butter (room temp), cubed 

2 eggs 

5g fine sea salt 

Zest of ½ lemon 

150g raisins or currants 

For the glaze: 

200g icing sugar 

35ml lemon juice 

1 Add the yeast to the milk and stir to gently activate. Meanwhile, in a bowl or electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, baking powder and sugar, then add the butter on top. Pour in half of the yeast mix and knead. When fully absorbed, add the rest of the yeast mix, along with the eggs, and knead for 5 mins more. Leave to stand for a few mins. 

2 Add the salt, lemon zest and raisins and knead for 10 mins more, or until it’s formed a smooth, elastic dough. 

3 Cover and set aside for 1 hr. Line a 39x27cm tin with baking parchment. 

4 Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Take each piece and lightly flatten, pulling in the outer parts like a purse and squeezing together. Turnover and place in the baking tin. 

5 Cover with a cotton cloth, then wrap in a plastic bag. Rest for 1 hr, or until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 210C/Fan 190C/Gas 6. 

6 Bake for 8–10 mins, or until golden. Allow to cool, then make the glaze by mixing the icing sugar with the lemon juice and using to top each bun. 

Cook’s note: You can freeze these buns before icing: thaw and revive in a hot oven before adding the icing.

This recipe is taken from Oats in the North, Wheat From the South by Regula Ysewijn (Murdoch Books). Photography by Regula Ysewijn.

You can read more of the recipes from the book, including Tottenham Cake, Manchester Tart and Devonshire Splits, in our April issue, on sale now. 

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Recipe | Bakewell slice

Fragrant frangipane, crunchy almonds and no sickly sweet fondant in sight makes a lovely tea-time treat

Makes 12

For the sweet pastry base:
200g plain flour
50g ground almonds
75g caster sugar
160g salted butter (at room temperature), cubed
1 egg yolk

For the Filling:
150g raspberry jam
130g salted butter, softened
160g caster sugar
4 eggs
260g ground almonds
40g flaked almonds, to decorate

1. To make the base, put the flour, ground almonds and caster sugar in a bowl and combine. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, then mix and knead the dough to create a tight, smooth ball. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 mins. Before use, allow to stand at room temperature for 10-15 mins.
2. Preheat the oven to 170C/Fan 150C/ Gas 3. Roll out the sweet pastry base until it's 5mm thick and use it to line a 34x20cm baking tray, gently pushing it into the edges. Trim off any excess.
3. Prick the base a few times with a fork, then line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans before blind baking for 15-20mins. Leave to cool, but leave the oven on. Once cooled, spread the raspberry jam over the base.
4. To make the filling, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the ground almonds and whisk thoroughly.
5. Spoon the filling over the jam base right up to the edges. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds, then bake for 30-35 mins until golden on top and firm in the middle. Cool before cutting into 12 slices.

This recipe is from the June issue of The Simple Things. If you fancy a little something sweet the issue also has recipes for a yarrow cake, crab apple tarte tatin, meringue kisses and more.

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Taken from Artisan Home Baking: Wholesome and Delicious Recipes for Cakes and Other Bakes – Recipes from Meg Rivers, Bakers of Happiness (Ryland Peters & Small) Photography: Steve Painter

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Nostalgia | Forgotten bakery goods

The joy of a good bakery, like the joy of a good bookshop, never ages. They might have become more artisan, more European, more generally fancy, but at the heart of a good bakery is that same ‘nose-pressed-to-the-glass, nostrils heady with the scent of sugar feeling that captured us as children, eyes like dinner plates and hands ready to grab. 

In our August issue, we’ve featured a few of the most inspiring bakeries in the world, taken from Europe’s Best Bakeries by Sarah Guy. And we have to say it’s an awe-inspiring collection, including The Earth’s Crust Bakery at Castle Douglas, pictured above. It took us right back to our earliest memories of bakeries, and - we’re going to give away our age here - we’ve collated below a few of our favourite classic bakery goods. There’s nothing civilised about most of them. Each is a frivolous carb- and sugar-fuelled mini feast. Exactly as it should be. 

Join us on a trip down memory lane. And leave us a comment at the end of the blog reminding us of any bakery goods you enjoyed as a child that we might have forgotten…

Traffic light biscuits

Oh the indulgence! Two shortbread biscuits sandwiched together, the top with three tempting holes cut out, through which oozed not one, nor two but THREE differently coloured fruit curds (red, yellow and green obviously). We still have no idea what flavour each colour was meant to denote. Presumably strawberry, lemon and… erm… lime? Apple? Green flavour? It matters not. The point was that buttery shortbread crumbling beneath your gappy-toothed bite and nearly falling to the floor, but for the curd that kept it safely anchored to the main biscuit. 

Nest cakes

Mysteriously sold all year round, these Easter treats were usually assembled from Cornflakes or Shredded Wheat, crushed and mixed with melted chocolate, dolloped into paper cases and decorated with tiny eggs. And none of your posh Mini Eggs of today, oh no. These eggs were of the 1980s ‘pure sugar, encased in a shell, again of pure sugar’ variety. Just looking at them made your teeth ache. What’s not to love?

Ice cream cone ‘cakes’

We struggled to remember what the deal was here but we remember jealously coveting them, that’s for sure. Askey’s wafer cones, filled with some sort of sticky sugary goo, that bonded any two surfaces quicker than Bostick. We think it was meant to represent ice-cream. The whole thing was topped with Hundreds and Thousands  - the proper sugar strands, not your modern, ball-style nonsense. We clearly remember that they were created in a rainbow colourway, with multicolured sugar strands atop a pink sugar goo and there was also a chocolate version, with a chocolate goo topped with only dark chocolate sugar strands (for the more classy and discerning eight-year-old, presumably). 

Iced fingers

Take off the icing and you basically have a plain, unassuming roll, but lined up in the bakery window, iced fingers were pure joy. There’s something deliciously simple (and almost unashamedly cheeky) about icing a plain bread roll and calling it a cake. We admire this. 

Meringue ghosts

Not just for Halloween, these crumbly creatures of the night seemed to be on bakery shelves all year round. Swirls of wonky meringue with chocolate drop eyes and a demeanour that would terrify an apple puff. 

Sticky buns

We’re taking a very specific type of sticky here. Not your average iced bun (we’ve covered those), and not a Chelsea bun either (no glace cherries here). Proper sticky buns were simple fruit buns made sticky with some sort of mysterious glaze and tiny crystals of sugar that were inexplicably perfect cube shapes. What WERE those things? Anyway, inexplicably sticky buns were a classic and have somehow not been the same in the last 30 years at least. And we still don’t know where that mad square sugar came from. Intriguing!

Do leave us memories of your forgotten bakery goods below. We can’t wait to read them. Pick up our August issue to read more about some of the best bakeries in the world.

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More from our August issue…

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