Hazelnut caramel slices...with a chocolate bottom

In my local bakery I saw a new sweet treat that really caught my eye - a pecan slice As I had just left the gym, I decided not to have one and left feeling virtuous! Needless to say, I obsessed about this slice for days after and looked at various recipes for something similar. I gave into temptation and decided to make some this afternoon. Typically I did not have an pecan nuts but had lots of hazelnuts and decided to use those instead! To make the slices even more decadent, I dipped the bases in melted milk chocolate. As the caramel is quite chewy, they can be a bit like a hazelnutty, shortbready Dime bar. I'm now trying to find neighbours to eat them so I don't...

Serves: makes 12 -16 slices depending on how big you want the slices to be. I went for 12…what does that say about me?!

Cook Time: 45 minutes 

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

100 g butter

50 g caster sugar

225 g plain flour

For the topping

150 g butter

100 g clear honey

200 g light muscovado sugar

2 tbsp double cream

150 g roasted hazelnuts roughly chopped

For the base

100g milk chocolate, melted

Method

1.     Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Line a 33 x 18cm baking tin with baking parchment. Whiz the butter, sugar and flour together in a food processor. You will get a rough crumble like texture that holds together when you press it between your fingers

2.     Press the mixture into the tin and bake for 20 minutes, until the base is firm and golden. Watch your oven as different ones vary and so it may take a few minutes more or a few minutes less. Go on colour rather than time

3.     Meanwhile, make the topping. Place the butter, honey and sugar in a heavy-based saucepan. Cook over a low heat until the butter is melted, stirring with a wooden spoon. 

4.     Increase the heat and boil the mixture for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the cream and hazelnuts. 

5.     Pour over the set shortbread and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the topping is bubbling and a rich caramel colour. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. 

6.     Chill until set and cut into bars into your desired size

7.     Melt the chocolate in a shallow dish in the microwave in 10 second bursts or over a saucepan of just simmering water. Keep an eye out for it so it doesn’t catch on the bottom

8.     Dip the base of the slice in the gooey melted chocolate and place on a non-stick mat

9.     Chill until the chocolate has set

Wedding anniversary cake

I was very honoured last week to be asked to provide the cakes for a 10th wedding anniversary party which was being held in a pub in Redditch in the West Midlands, not too far from where I live.
The order was for a large cake and then some smaller cakes for 40-50 guests at the party.

The only request was that the main cake was heart shaped and vanilla flavoured. It was lovely to be able to make suggestions and develop the idea together.

Taking the idea of a heart cake, I decided to do a three layer naked cake. Each layer was made from a Victoria Sponge all-in-one recipe (Mary Berry's -the only one I ever use!) with the addition of a little bit of vanilla extract. The 8" recipe fitted the tin beautifully and was just right for 3 layers without the cake being TOO tall! The filling was homemade strawberry and prosecco jam and vanilla buttercream. I had read an incredibly useful blog from @BecksBake on Twitter; this guided me through the cake construction with some great tips such as using a thin piping nozzle to fill in the gaps between the layers to get a smoother final outer layer of buttercream. The blog can be found here. If ever you are making a naked cake, I can thoroughly recommend you read it.

The finished cake was topped with fresh berries and I was delighted with the outcome...and so was the customer!

The smaller cake collection was made up of mini lemon drizzle loaves, hazelnut and frangelico brownies and my raspberry frangipane bites.

This was a wonderful opportunity I was delighted to be able to help out with. I hope its the first of many commissions of this type. If you're local to Birmingham and looking for some bakes, please get in touch!